A Cat, A Rat, and a Kunai
by Odetoblue
Summary: ANBU Team 7 is sent to protect the 13 cursed members of the Sohma family from Akatsuki. Will they have what it takes to not only defeat the enemy, but find love as well? Fruit's BasketxNaruto, Kyoru, SasuSaku, NaruHina, hints of ShikaIno and NejiTen
1. A New Mission

"A new mission?" Sasuke looked questioningly at his teacher.

"Yup. We're to report to Tsunade-sama ASAP. The silver-haired jounin said to his ANBU team.

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After Sasuke had killed Orochimaru, he had returned to Konoha only to find that Naruto was going to be the Rokudaime. This didn't really bother the onyx eyed-boy, considering he had never aspired to be Hokage like the blonde had. But after discussing with Tsunade and the council the real reasons for his actions, Sasuke found himself facing one year probation: That meant no missions. But he would be completely reaccepted into Konoha, and put back with his old team. That had been when Sasuke was 14.

Team 7 had changed a lot in his absence. Sakura was now a young woman, and Sasuke couldn't keep himself from sneaking peeks at her-ahem-well developed body. She was the best med-nin in the village, next to Tsunade, and could usually be found hanging around the Hospital or the Yamanaka Flower Shop, talking to her once-again best friend, Ino.

Sakura had also inherited Tsunade's insane strength, which she proceeded to use whenever Naruto said something _too _stupid. She had lost her fangirly attitude towards her glacial teammate, which only served to intrigue the ice cube even more.

Naruto's changed had been the most dramatic. Yes, he was still the same idiot everyone knew and loved, but was… different somehow. He acted more seriously, and thought about his actions and words before using them. Of course, sometimes things just slipped out, and Sakura had to put him in his place.

But whenever the blonde was distressed about something, he could usually be found on the Hokage monument, sitting atop the fourth's head.

Apparently, soon after Sasuke had shoved a chidori through his best friend's chest, Naruto had been told of his heritage. His father was the Fourth Hokage, a man who had valiantly sacrificed his own son for the safety of an entire village. His mother was Uzumaki Kushina, an ANBU who was respected by the whole city, and named "The Fire Dancer" for her bright red hair and the way that she seemed to be dancing when she fought.

At first, Naruto was angry that this had been kept from him for so many years. Upon hearing that his father had wanted him to be a hero, the blonde boy had laughed grimly, and thought back to all the times the citizens of Konoha had called him "demon-child" and "monster". Eventually, and with help from Tsunade, Jiraiya, Kakashi, Iruka and Sakura, Naruto realized that no matter how much he bitched and moaned about it, nothing would change on it's own. That only made his desire to be respected stronger.

This was also around the time that Sakura was told the true story of the Kyuubi.

She took it rather well. She was shocked at first, but that soon changed to sympathy and love towards her blonde teammate. She became a sort of sister to him, and the two had a sibling complex, making him ecstatic.

When Sasuke was told of the Kyuubi upon his return, needless to say he was shocked (not that he showed it). But he _had_ always wondered where the blonde's seemingly endless chakra flow came from. He accepted Naruto for what he was, and treated him no differently, much to his best friend's joy and annoyance.

Another change that greeted the stoic boy when he returned was that Naruto had a girlfriend. About a month after Naruto returned from training with Jiraiya, Hyuuga Hinata had confessed her love for him. She was thrilled to find that he harbored similar feelings towards her, and the two began to date.

Of course Hiashi was devastated that his eldest daughter was going out with the demon of the village, and demanded that they break up. Hinata made him a deal. If she could fight with Hanabi (who was currently the strongest Hyuuga in the main branch, next to Hiashi himself) and win, she could be with Naruto all she wanted. If she lost, then she would break up with the blonde and never speak to him again. Hiashi, seeing no way he could possibly lose, accepted this deal.

Hinata spent the month she had before the fight training under her friends. Tenten taught her all about weapons, Kiba and Shino helped her sharpen her senses besides sight, Lee taught her some taijutsu, Sakura helped her chakra control, and Naruto helped her with focusing her chakra (this surprised everyone, for no one thought of the blonde as very focused) into power for attacks.

Well, love must be a very powerful thing, because Hinata beat her sister in less than 15 minutes. Her father, upon seeing this, decided that her remarkable power must have been due to his own training, and proclaimed her the rightful heir to the Hyuuga clan. Naruto was thrilled for her, but Hinata could've cared less. She was just happy that she could keep seeing her blonde boyfriend for as long as she wanted.

When Hinata was told the true story of the Kyuubi no Youko, Naruto feared of losing his love. But Hinata just welcomed him with open arms and a passionate kiss. It was then that Naruto knew that he truly had a family within the walls of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

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Sasuke spent his year of probation training, because A) He still needed to kill Itachi, and B) He was no longer the strongest ninja in Konoha (that would be Naruto). Immediately after his probation ended, Sasuke took the Chuunin, then Jounin exams (passed relatively easily). Six months later, the reunited Team 7 took the ANBU exams.

In Naruto's words- well, some of them are a bit too _colorful_ to display here, but it was harder than the three great Sannin's training combined. It tested your intelligence, ability to think on your feet, grace, strength and teamwork, all things which could be the difference between living and dying.

But all three jounin passed, and were imprinted with tattoo's and issued the standard uniform and mask. They were currently the youngest ANBU in Konoha.

Naruto's mask was a white fox with gold whiskers (Sasuke's only thought was, _'How appropriate.'_) Even the usual line for the mouth seemed to be turned up slightly, as if the mask was laughing at a very funny inside joke. At the ceremony, Tsunade had told the blonde boy that the fox represented cunningness, as well as the ability to think on your feet.

Sakura's mask was a pink, white and gold Japanese dragon, with small, but intricate details. There were swirls and lines all over it, giving it a fierce, yet calm look. Tsunade had said that the dragon represented the wisdom of one thousand ages past, and a bright outlook for the future.

Sasuke's mask was a bear. The mask was completely black, excepting two short thin gold lines that ran a little below the eye holes (which Sasuke couldn't find a reason for other than decoration.) The Hokage had told him that it symbolized power and desire for a good fight.

"Okay then, let's go!" Naruto said, already speeding towards the Hokage tower. He burst through Tsunade's door, his sensei and teammates not far behind.

"Baa-chan! What's our new mission?" The hyperactive ninja yelled. The fifth Hokage twitched at the nickname.

"Stop calling me that!" She yelled back, even though everyone knew there was something wrong if Naruto _didn't_ call the woman by her nickname. It was his way of telling everyone that he was upset about something, and needed space, or time to think.

Tsunade sat back down in her chair, sighing.

"Anyway, your next mission is S-class undercover protection." Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed slightly. He didn't want to be stuck babysitting some little snot nosed brat. The busty woman laced her fingers together, then stared at the group seriously.

"Recently I got word of a family of people called the Sohmas, who currently reside in a different part of Japan. There are two sets of Sohmas, the majority of them on the Outside. But those of the Inside know of the family's terrible secret. 13 members of the Sohma family are cursed by the spirits of the Chinese zodiac. They become these animals whenever their body is weak, or hugged by a member of the opposite sex." The room was silent until Naruto spoke.

"So they're kind of like me, ne Baa-chan?" He asked quietly. Tsunade nodded solemnly.

"That's why we're so worried about them. We're afraid that the Akatsuki might go after them like they've gone after you and Gaara before. You will be attending the same high school as a few of the Sohmas, and will get close to them. It will be much easier to protect them if they already trust you. I have already spoken to the head of the family, and he will be awaiting your arrival. Use whatever means necessary to make sure you stay with them. Here they are."

The three ANBU were each handed a picture and a file. Naruto had an angry looking boy with bright orange hair, Sakura had a very pretty silver-haired boy and Sasuke had a brown-haired, clue-less looking girl.

"This is Sohma Kyo, Sohma Yuki, and Honda Tohru. All the information you will need is in the files. Tell them whatever you wish about yourselves without giving away your true purposes, and only tell the truth in a dire situation where it cannot be avoided." The Godaime put her hands down on her desk.

"Tsunade-sama, if you don't mind me asking, why would you chose the three youngest ANBU in the village to on an S-class mission like this?" Sakura asked her sensei. Tsunade smiled.

"You three are my best ANBU, young or not. You have great teamwork and compliment each other beautifully." She gestured to Sasuke.

"Raw power." Then Sakura.

"Wisdom." And finally, Naruto.

"And an overwhelming sense of what is right." She looked at them, pride shining in her eyes.

"That is why you are going."

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**Disclaimer: I don't even own my own computer, much less two fantastic anime/manga series that are loved by millions of people all over the world.**

**Hey guys, thanks for reading the first chapter of ****A Cat, A Rat, and A Kunai****!!!!! I'm so unbelievably happy that I finished this. I had the first chapter all typed up and ready to go, then my stupid computer erased it!!!!!! Grrrrr… dumb piece of machinery…**

**Anyway, I'll try to update soon, but I have school and all. You know the drill. Reviews sometimes help me write, though. HINT HINT!!!!!!!!! I know this chapter is mostly information, but it's important for later, so I thought I might as well get it out of the way. SEE YOU NEXT TIME!!!!!**


	2. Meet the Sohma Family

Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto were shown to their new home the next morning. It was a two bedroom, one bathroom apartment with a small kitchen and living room. Sasuke and Naruto would share a room, and share a bathroom Sakura. This did **not** make the kunoichi happy.

_ 'This is gonna be a __**long **__mission…'_ She thought desperately.

** 'You said it girl.'**

_'Oh Kami, you're back.'_

**'No freakin DUH!!! You think I would leave you all alone?'**

_'No, but I was always hoping…'_

"Earth to Sakura!! Are you alright?" Naruto waved his hand in front of his friend's face. She seemed to come to.

"Gomen. What did you need?" She asked, sitting on the edge of her new bed. Her room had white walls, white curtains and a white bed with white sheets. Sakura planned to change that. So as soon as she had opened her suitcase, her pink fuzzy slippers were the first things to come out.

"We wanted to go over our charge's files with you." Sasuke said, leaning on the doorframe. Sakura motioned towards her bed, and all three of them sat in a circle.

"I'll start." She began. "Name: Sohma Yuki, Age: 16. Hair Color: Silver, Eye Color: Violet. Student Council President, and Heartthrob. Nicknamed, "The Prince" for his unnatural good looks. An all around nice person, though he is shy and keeps to himself. It doesn't list what zodiac animal he is, though."

"I'll go next." Naruto volunteered. "Name: Sohma Kyo, Age: 16. Hair Color: Orange, Eye Color: Amber. He has an explosive temper, and is a blackbelt in karate. He apparently has some sort of rivalry with Yuki, reasons unknown."

"I suppose that leaves me." Sasuke looked at his file. "Name: Honda Tohru, Age: 15, although she'll be 16 soon. Hair Color: Brown, Eye Color: Blue. Very naive, but very kind. Her father died from illness when she was little, and her mother passed away in a car accident about a year and a half ago. She is living with Yuki, Kyo, and some guy named Shigure for the time being. She was going to live with her Grandfather, but I guess that didn't work out. The Sohma's seem to be very protective of her."

"Well this is going to be interesting." Naruto said, looking at the pictures of the three. "The boys are your age, and older than me. Although I will be 16 in few weeks." He smiled cheesily.

"Well, you guys better unpack and get ready. We have school in an hour." Sakura sighed. "Kakashi gave me our uniforms before we left Konoha. Here they are." She handed each of them a package.

And that was how the day began.

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"Baka Neko."

"BAKA NEZUMI!!! I'LL SHOW YOU!!!" Kyo Sohma lunged at his silver-haired, pretty boy cousin. Just then, the door to the classroom slid open.

"Kyo, shut up and sit down, or I'll give you cleaning duty." Mayu sighed, going to her desk. The frustrated teenager plopped down in his seat with a huff.

"Now everyone, just so you know, the Fall Harvest Festival will take place one month from today. I expect everyone to dress nicely and enjoy themselves." There was minor whooping and hollering. "Okay okay, quiet down. On another note, we have three new students who just transferred from another part of Japan." The door slid open again, but this time a girl and two boys walked in. The girl had vibrant pink hair, one boy had bright blonde hair and one boy had dark blue hair.

"Would you like to give us your name, and something you like?" Mayu offered.

"I'm Haruno Sakura, and I like shopping, I guess." The girl said nicely, and some of the boys drooled at her pretty figure.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I like ramen!!" The blonde grinned, making a peace sign.

"Uchiha Sasuke. Martial Arts." The blue haired boy murmured, glaring at any girl who began to drool at him. Of course, this backfired, making him seem more irresistible.

"Well, just find an empty seat and we'll begin." Sasuke spotted his charge instantly, and lucked out to find an empty seat next to her. Sakura took a seat in front of a blonde girl, and Naruto found one right next to a girl with black hair in a braid. She looked at him oddly after he sat down, but said nothing. But the girl behind Sakura definitely wanted to talk.

"Hey, so you're new, right?" she whispered.

"Uh, yeah. I guess so." Sakura shrugged.

"I'm Uotani Arisa. Nice to meet 'cha Haruno-san."

"Oh please, call me Sakura!" the pink kunoichi insisted with a smile. She had already made a friend.

"Well Sakura-chan, I feel bad for your friend with the chicken-ass hair."

"You mean Sasuke-kun? Why?" She tried to stifle a giggle. It had never really occurred to her how much Sasuke's hair resembled a chicken's backside.

"He's gonna get a lot of fangirls, just like the Prince." Uo smiled. There were already groups of girls drooling over the stoic boy. "Do you and your friends want to eat lunch with me today? I could introduce you to all my friends." she offered.

"Sure, that'd be great!!" Sakura couldn't believe her luck. From the looks Uo kept giving the girl called Tohru, the two were obviously close. And if they got close to Tohru, the Sohma's would no doubt come soon after.

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"Sakura-chan, over here!!!" Uo called out to her new friend. The pink haired girl waved and headed over, Naruto and Sasuke not far behind. As soon as class had let out, Sakura had told her friends of her meeting, and they had agreed to go together. And because it was such a beautiful day, the kids were aloud to eat outside.

"Uo-chan." Hanajima spoke quietly to her friend. "Those kids have strange waves. Not like Yuki or Kyo's, but very strange all the same." She had noticed this when the blonde boy sat down next to her during class. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something about these people that was wrong.

"Hana-chan, I'm sure they're good people!" Tohru assured her friend. She sat between Yuki and Kyo. "Yuki-kun, Kyo-kun, could you try not to fight?"

"Of course, Honda-san." Yuki smiled softly. Kyo twitched.

"Yeah, whatever." He looked away.

Sakura and her friends finally made it to the table.

"Uo-chan, these are my friends Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun. Can they sit with us too?" She asked innocently. Uo nodded.

"Let me introduce you to our little group. That's Hanajima, Orangey, The Prince and our little Tohru-kun!!" Uo and Hana hugged Tohru on the last part, making everyone sweatdrop. Sasuke sat down next to Yuki, Naruto next to Kyo, and Sakura next to Uo.

"It's great to meet you all!" Sakura said cheerily. Sasuke's eyebrow rose ever so slightly.

_'Her acting's certainly gotten better…'_

"Yeah, really!" Naruto added with enthusiasm.

"So Sakura-chan, do you mind if I ask you something?" Tohru questioned. Sakura shook her head.

"Shoot."

"Where did you get your hair dyed?"

Sakura twitched, but it was so small that only her teammates could notice it.

'_Bad move…'_ was the only thought coming from Sasuke and Naruto.

"Actually, Tohru-kun, my hair color is all natural." She said through a gritted smile.

"Yeah, and I'm your neighbor Totoro." Kyo snorted. (A/N: Do you get it? If you don't, watch My Neighbor Totoro. It's a Hayao Miyazaki film. Ah well. So goes my twisted sense of humor.) Sakura got defensive.

"Look's who talking _Orangey_! If I had your hair color, I'd get a job as a traffic cone!" Kyo glared at her.

"At least my hair doesn't look like someone accidentally mixed their reds and whites in the washing machine!"

"No, yours looks more like someone mixed ketchup and mustard together, then plopped in on your bald baby head!"

"PINKY!"

"ORANGEY!"

"WOMAN!"

"WHAT KIND OF INSULT IS THAT, CARROT TOP!?" Sakura was right; Kyo was running out of good comebacks. So he decided to attack a different area.

"Billboard Brow!" Sakura froze.

"What did you just say?" Kyo sat back and smirked, looking proud of himself.

"Your forehead should have a warning on it, the glare is so bright." Sakura stood up, her hair covering her eyes.

"Excuse me." Then she turned around and walked off. Everyone stared at her quickly retreating form.

"Baka…" Sasuke breathed quietly before getting up to follow her. Naruto glared at Kyo and sighed.

"Good job. You just had to go and get her mad, didn't you?"

"What'd I do?" Kyo asked before getting a smack on the back of the head from Yuki.

"Idiot. She's obviously sensitive." He turned to Naruto as if confirming his suspicions.

"You're very perceptive Sohma-kun. Yes, as a child, Sakura-chan was always teased about her hair and her forehead, the latter especially. I believe "Billboard Brow" was one of their favorite nicknames for her." He glared at Kyo (Who by this time was feeling slightly guilty) again. "That's why she's so sensitive about it." Naruto sat back and sighed.

"Let's just hope Sasuke-teme can do something about it."

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**Disclaimer: You'd have to be beyond stupid to believe that I own Naruto.**

**Hey guys, it's me. I really loved all the kind reviews I got, and even made a few new friends! (Thanks, Shadow-chan!!!!!!) I know the last chapter was a lot of information, but here's where the fun starts!!!!!!! Oh, and some of my updates will be sooner than others, and some of the chapters will be shorter than others. This particular one was a lot longer than the last one. I'm pretty sure the next one is even longer! (P.S. I LOVED writing this fight scene. I don't really know why…. let me know what you think.)**

**Review and tell your friends!!!!!!!!**


	3. To be Happy and Gay

Sakura sat behind a pillar, trying not to cry.

_'Oh Kami, I feel like a little kid again…'_

**'That BASTARD! How DARE he?!'**

_'No, it was my fault. I shouldn't have provoked him. But I won't cry. Naruto needs me to be strong, and Sasuke needs to see how much I've grown since he left.'_

But despite what she told herself, Sakura could not help but let one little tear fall. She let it hang on her cheek

"Sakura?" The pink-haired girl looked up to see the very man on her mind. "Are you crying?" She quickly stood up, wiping her single tear away.

"Why would you say that?" She tried to be cheery, but Sasuke saw right through it. Before she knew it, Sakura was pressed against his chest in a hesitant hold.

"Sometimes… Sometimes it's okay to cry, I guess…" He murmured. Sakura figured this must be his version of a hug. Even though her ice cube teammate didn't give her the butterflies he had when they were younger, his body this close was still enough to make any other girl a lovesick mess.

But Haruno Sakura was not any other girl.

"And sometimes it's not." She said, pushing away lightly. Sasuke looked startled for a moment, then went back to his stoic expression. She smiled softly at him.

"Sometimes we just have to move on."

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Naruto looked up to see his two best friends walking back to the lunch table, Sakura looking fine, and Sasuke looking, well, like a human ice cube. But what else was new? The blonde knew better than to ask what had happened. If Sakura wanted to make something known, it would be known. Believe it.

"Sakura-chan, are you okay?" A worried Tohru asked. The kunoichi merely smiled as she sat back down.

"I'm fine, Tohru-chan, Arrigatou."

"I know! Why don't you three come over tonight for dinner? To get better acquainted!" Tohru suggested, stars in her eyes. She turned to Yuki. "Do you think Shigure-san would mind, Yuki-kun?" Yuki couldn't help but smile at the girl's expression.

"I don't see why not."

"That would be wonderful Tohru-chan!" Sakura exclaimed.

Kami was certainly on their side today.

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When school was over, Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto walked back to their apartment making silly conversation about the weather and such. They couldn't risk someone eavesdropping on them. When they finally got home, Naruto ran to the fridge.

"THERE'S RAMEN IN HERE!" He exclaimed happily. Sakura nodded as she set her bag down on the couch.

"Kakashi gave me some food to eat until we can go grocery shopping. He even made sure there was enough instant-ramen to last a little while." She laughed, then checked the clock.

"Tohru-chan told us to come over around five, and it's three-thirty now. I'm gonna take a shower. Naruto, don't spoil your appetite on all that ramen, if that's even possible." and with that she walked into the bathroom.

Sasuke was slightly amazed at how motherly she sounded; making sure Naruto didn't spoil his appetite and planning her time like that. She had really grown since their geninn days.

Leaving Naruto to prepare his ramen, Sasuke walked into the bedroom the two boys shared to finish unpacking. He put all his clothes in the small dresser on his side of the room, and all his weapons under the bed. Kunai, Shuriken, Katanas and Scrolls, it was all there.

The only other thing he had brought was a miniature version of the Uchiha family portrait. He hated to look at it, but made himself do so. It was staring at the loving faces of his two parents, the murderous eyes of his brother, and his own innocence that gave him the drive he needed to survive. Sasuke felt that his childhood had been stolen when his family was murdered, and the burden of avenging them put in its place. And as long as he played the role of Avenger, nothing else mattered.

Or so he thought before almost completely losing everything he once had. The trust of Konoha, his Shinobi status, Naruto and Sakura's friendship, even his own body. And although he would never admit it, losing Naruto and Sakura would've been more catastrophic than anything Sasuke could've ever imagined.

At the foot of his bed, Sasuke noticed a white plastic bag. It had his name on it. He quickly opened it to find new clothing, and a note.

_Sasuke,_

_Here are some street clothes for you. Our ANBU uniforms may look a little strange to the passerby, ne?_

_There are some on Naruto's bed too. Please make sure he gets them._

_Sakura_

Sasuke, wondering when Sakura had found time to buy these, quickly changed and looked at himself in the full-length mirror hanging on the door. He wore a thin, form-fitting dark blue sweater with a tiny Uchiha fan stitched on each of the sleeves, black jeans and black Converse.

_'Not bad…'_ He thought, leaving the room. Naruto was just finishing the last of his ramen.

"Dobe, go get changed. There's some clothes on your bed."

You didn't need to tell Naruto twice. The blonde threw away his trash and bounded in the bedroom. After about five minutes, he came out looking almost as good as Sasuke.

He wore an orange polo with his signature swirl as the emblem, light, baggy jeans, and blue adidas sneakers. He smiled cheesily at Sasuke.

"Whatcha starin' at, Sas-_Uke_" Naruto teased, making Sasuke's blood boil. It was one thing to call him a bastard, but to call him gay? _Nobody_ got away with that. He was just about to tell Naruto this when the bathroom door open and Sakura strode out.

She was wearing a red camisole, white shorts, and red flip-flops. A white headband sat in her slightly wet hair. She stepped between the boys.

"Not now, we have a dinner to go to. Do this later." Sure enough, it was a quarter to five.

"You look like a candy cane." Sasuke muttered as she walked by. Sakura stopped and smirked at him.

"Lick it." She said seductively. With a flick of her tongue, she walked out the door. If she had looked back, she would've seen Naruto on the floor laughing, and a very, _very_, slight tinge of pink on Sasuke's cheeks.

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When the trio finally found Tohru's house, it was exactly five o' clock. They knew Kyo and Yuki lived there too because Uo had explained Tohru's predicament during lunch. But they had no idea who this Shigure person might be.

Naruto knocked on the door, which slid open to reveal a beaming Tohru.

"Oh I'm so glad you could make it! I hope my directions weren't too hard to figure out. Please come in." She moved out of their way.

"No Tohru-chan, they were fine." Sakura said as the three ninja removed their shoes and stepped inside. It was a nice house, though not much compared to the Uchiha Mansion, and Sakura's house was at least twice this one's size. Even Naruto's new house, his father's home, was larger and grander. But so goes the way of the Shinobi.

As Tohru went to check on the food, a door slid open, and a middle-aged man with shaggy black hair in a gray yutaka stepped out. He walked over the three.

"Hi, I'm Sohma Shigure, Yuki and Kyo's cousin. Lovely to meet you." He said charmingly, kissing Sakura's hand. She smiled innocently.

"Oh yes, Tohru did mention something about a Shigure at lunch, but I never imagined he'd be this handsome." She said coyly. Naruto and Sasuke exchanged a brief glance but didn't say anything.

"Haruno Sakura. The pleasure is all mine." She shook his hand, making the older man blush. The male shinobi could see that Sakura was toying with the man, and may be able to get some information out of him.

"These are my friends, Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke." The kunoichi introduced the blonde and ice cube to Shigure, who seemed to have recovered from Sakura's… ahem, forwardness.

"Tohru-chan was talking about me? How sweet of her! Tohru-chaan!!!" He went off into the kitchen singing the poor girl's name. Naruto turned to his friends.

"So, do we "discover" the curse tonight?" He breathed, only loud enough for the three of them to hear. Sasuke looked at Sakura, who though for a moment, then shrugged.

"We'll have to see how everything plays out."

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**Hey guys, thanks for waiting so long for the third chapter! I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving, because I did (even though my cousin broke my fingernail in a game of Egyptian Ratscrew and it began to bleed), but ah well.**

**Reviews appreciated! **


	4. Dinner with the Zodiac

"Dinner is ready!" Tohru called from the kitchen. "Sakura-chan, will you get Yuki-kun and Kyo-kun? They should be upstairs."

Sakura nodded and left her two shinobi friends sitting at the table with Shigure, who was blabbering on about something strange.

"Yuki-kun? Kyo-kun?" She called, looking from room to room. Yuki poked his head out of one.

"Oh hello Haruno-san."

"Hello Yuki-kun, Tohru-chan says dinner is ready. Do you know where Kyo is?"

"Arrigatou, and try the roof."

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'_Stupid people… comin' over for dinner like this…'_ Kyo thought, staring at the clouds. He heard a tap on the roof next to him.

"Yuki-kun said I'd find you up here." Sakura said, standing on the ladder. She had no expression on her face. "Tohru-chan says dinner is ready." And with that, she was gone. Kyo got up and stretched.

_'It better not be leeks…'_

"So Shigure-san, what do you do?" Sakura asked, making polite conversation. Once everyone had arrived at the table, Tohru had brought out the food (which to Kyo's relief, was NOT leeks.)

"I'm a novelist, actually." He said smoothly, pulling something out of his robe. It was a thick brown book that had intelligent writing on it. (A/N: I have absolutely no idea what intelligent writing looks like, for I am not intelligent at all!!!)

"But I write these in my spare time." Shigure pulled out of his robe another book, this time a smutty romance novel. Naruto and Sakura's jaws dropped, while Sasuke's eyebrow rose.

"Yuki-kun, may I ask you a question?" Sakura asked, trying to stay polite. Yuki looked surprised at this sudden change in subject.

"Of course, Haruno-san."

"Is Shigure-san what some would call a… pervert?" Everyone at the table (excepting the three shinobi) looked shocked.

"I suppose so..." Yuki thought for a moment. "Actually, yes. He's definitely a pervert." (Sasuke inwardly laughed at how he sounded so certain.) Naruto began to laugh out loud.

"We'll have to get him a copy of Icha Icha paradise, won't we?" He grinned, wiping away a stray tear. The Sohma's (and Tohru) looked confused.

"What's so funny?" The dog dared to ask, slightly afraid of the answer. Sakura put her hand up, grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh it's nothing. You just remind us of someone, that's all." She said, stifling a giggle. The Sohmas shrugged it off, but couldn't help wonder.

_'Who in hell is like Shigure?'_

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After dinner Naruto volunteered to help Tohru do the dishes.

"N-No!!!! You really don't have to!!!" She insisted. The blonde turned up the power on his eyes, making him look adorably irresistible.

"But Tohru-chan, I really want to help you." He pouted a little bit, and Tohru caved.

"I-I suppose if you really want to…" Naruto smiled genuinely, her stutter reminding him a little of Hinata when they were younger. Thinking of his girlfriend made Naruto slightly homesick. He couldn't believe he had to miss her ceremony, even if this mission was important. But what could he do?

Resuming his sunny attitude (only Sakura and Sasuke could tell he'd ever been sad at all) he followed Tohru into the kitchen. Sasuke and Kyo seemed to be in the middle of a staring contest. Actually, it was more like a glaring contest, with Sasuke winning. Kyo, finally needing to blink, stood up with a huff.

This was the chance Sakura had been waiting for. She stood up from her seat and _accidentally_ bumped her head into Kyo's chest, while _accidentally _falling into Yuki's lap.

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"Naruto-kun, you're very efficient at doing dishes." Tohru marveled at the blonde's speed. Most of the dishes were done already, and it had only been five minutes. Naruto smiled cheesily at her.

"I've had a lot of practice. I used to do my own dishes at home, and still do sometimes."

"Your parents must be very proud." this made Naruto slow his pace. He smiled sadly at her.

"Yeah, they probably would've been." Tohru was confused.

"What do you mean?"

"My parents died before I was born, Tohru-chan. I live by myself."

"Oh!!!! I'm so sorry Naruto-kun!!! I shouldn't have said what I did!!!" Tohru scolded herself. Naruto patted her on the shoulder.

"It's okay Tohru-chan, you couldn't have known."

Suddenly, two loud POOF's were heard from the living room. Dropping their dishes in the sink, Naruto and Tohru ran out of the kitchen, their only thought being:

_'Uh oh.'_

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Sakura opened her eyes to find herself laying on two piles of clothes. She looked around to see Shigure, Naruto, Tohru, Sasuke, a very stressed Rat and a very angry Cat. Shigure ran toward her, turning her head.

"OH SAKURA-SAN LOOK OVER THERE, I THINK I SEE A FLYING ONIGIRI!!!!" He cried, pointing out the window. The rat sighed.

"Don't bother Shigure. She's already seen us." Sakura looked at him, pretending to be amazed.

"Yuki-kun? Is that you?" She gasped, and the boy-turned-rat nodded. Sakura looked at the cat. "Does that mean that this must be…"

"Yes, that's Kyo." Shigure said with a sigh.

"I KNEW they shouldn't have come over!!! That girl is nothing but trouble!!!!" Kyo hissed, back arched. Sakura glared at him, some of her hair casting a shadow over her face, her expression daring him to say that again. It was over all quite a scary effect.

"Would someone care to explain?" Sasuke spoke, jolting the awkward atmosphere. Almost everyone had forgotten he was there.

"Alright then, you should probably sit down. This may take awhile." Shigure said, expecting to shock and scare the three shinobi with what he had to say.

(A/N: I'm skipping over the part where he tells them the curse, because if you read chapter 1, or any of the Fruits Basket manga/anime, you already know this. All you need to know is this part involved a lot of fake surprise on the shinobi's part.)

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An hour later, Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke were completely filled in on the Zodiac curse. Sasuke turned to Tohru.

"I presume you knew about this?" The brunette nodded vigorously.

"After my mother died in a car crash last year, I was supposed to stay with my grandfather. But when he had to have construction done on his house, I was forced to live in a tent not far from here. The Sohmas found me and were kind enough to let me stay here as a sort of housekeeper. I've been here ever since." She smiled happily.

"So when do you guys turn back into humans?" Naruto asked with fake curiosity.

"After a while. But I can't figure out why we haven't changed-" Yuki was cut off by two loud poofs. Already knowing what was going to happen, Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto turned their eyes to the ceiling.

"-back yet." Yuki finished, looking at everyone apologetically. "As you can tell, we're usually naked when we turn back." He and Kyo quickly put on their clothes.

"Obviously you're not going to be wearing your clothing if it's a foot away from you like it was." Sasuke snorted.

"Well, now I'll have to tell Akito about this." Shigure sighed, standing up and leaving. Yuki twitched.

"Who's Akito?" Sakura asked. Yuki and Kyo both left the room.

"Akito-san is the head of the Sohma family. He will decide whether you are allowed to know about the curse or not. If not, your memories of the curse and of the Sohmas will be erased." Tohru explained, somewhat sadly. "Neither Yuki nor Kyo have very fond memories of Akito-san."

The three Shinobi exchanged a look. This must be the family head that they had been told about. But they had not been told that their memories would be erased!! The very thought scared Sakura a little bit. Sasuke gave her and Naruto a look that read, _'He wouldn't dare erase our memories. We're protecting them, after all.'_ That made Sakura feel a little better.

"Good news. Because it's not too late, Ha'ri said Akito would see you tonight. He said Akito seemed eager to meet you three." Shigure said, entering the room. "Ha'ri will be over in a minute."

As if on cue, there was a knock on the door. Tohru rushed to get it, and a man about Shigure's age walked in. He was very handsome, with black hair covering one of his clear grey eyes.

"I'm Sohma Hatori, the family doctor. And you are?"

"Haruno Sakura."

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"Right. Well, follow me. I'll take you to the main house, where you'll meet Akito."

Yuki watched through his bedroom window, and Kyo from the roof, as their new friends were ushered into Hatori's big black car. They subconsciously prayed for them.

_'Good Luck._

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**Happy New Year!!!!!! 2008 finally decided to make it's appearance. I'm really sorry for not updating before Christmas, but things were insane for me, and we went on a trip the Friday before to see relatives. So this is the most time I've had on the computer since then.**

**Oooooo, so now they're going to meet Akito!!!! How exciting!!!!!!!!! I should be able to put chapter 5 up sooner this time, but I can' guarantee anything. Well, read, review, and Ja till next time!!!!**


	5. The First Signs

"Uhm, Hatori-sama, what will happen to us?" Sakura asked, once in the car. Hatori, who was driving, didn't turn around.

"You will meet with Akito. He will decide what to do with you." He said emotionlessly. Naruto and Sakura sweatdropped. This guy was a little bit too much like Sasuke.

"Yeah, we know that, but how will you erase our memories?" Naruto pestered, wondering if they had some kind of memory jutsu.

"I will do it." Hatori sighed. Sakura was confused.

"But how?" Stopping at a red light, Hatori turned around and looked the three straight in the eye.

"I just will." He said somewhat bitterly, and turned back around. As the car jolted forward, the three shinobi mentally decided not to pester him about it anymore. The rest of the car ride was spent in silence, until finally, the car pulled through some very large gates. It stopped and everyone got out.

"Well we're here." Hatori said, slamming the car door closed. "Welcome to the Sohma family main house."

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"Akito-sama will see you now." A maid said, alerting the three ninjas. They quickly stood and were ushered into the room. Hatori began to follow them, but the maid stopped him.

"I'm sorry sir, but Akito-sama has made it very clear that no one should be anywhere near this room until the conversation is over." Hatori looked curiously up at the room, then shrugged and walked away. He would be called if he were needed.

The room the three ANBU stepped into was dark and warm. About 20 feet away from them sat a person with dark hair and dark eyes. Their fragile figure seemed to be lost among many layers of robe and fabric.

"You must be the three ninjas sent by Tsunade, ne?" The figure asked. Their voice was soft but demanding, like a ripple of water.

"And you must be Akito-sama." Sasuke said carefully. These particular shinobi knew better than anyone that a ripple of water could easily become a raging storm if provoked.

"That I am." Akito looked them over. "Hmm. What am I to do with you three? I assume you planned the discovery of our curse, "accidentally" running into Yuki or Kyo. I understand Miss Honda invited you over for dinner on your first day of school. You ninjas do work quite fast at gaining trust. Of course, that girl will trust anybody." Akito snorted.

"Well, I obviously can't erase your memories because you're protecting us, and you're not living with Shigure or anything, so it should be fine. But tell anyone of our secret and you will sincerely regret it." He hissed the last part. "What are your names?"

"Haruno Sakura."

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"Alright, now leave my sight." The family head dismissed them. They left the room quietly and waited until they were relatively far away to talk.

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"Well, that was… strange, to say the least." Naruto pointed out. Sakura nodded, deep in thought. There was something strange about that man, though she couldn't quite put her finger on it…

"We should probably get home, it's getting late. We do have school tomorrow, you know." She sighed, giving up for the moment.

"True. But Sakura-chan, how do we get out of here?" The three shinobi looked around, realizing that they had no idea where they were.

"Can I help you three?" A voice as sweet as honey called to them from behind. Sasuke whirled around to see a small blonde boy in girlish clothing staring at them with wide eyes.

"Who're you?" Naruto blurted out. Sakura elbowed him in the gut.

"Guten Tag! I'm Sohma Momiji! I'm half German, half Japanese." He smiled brightly. It reminded Sasuke of Naruto when they were 12.

"Are you a part of the curse too?" Sakura asked cautiously. Momiji's face went from happy to afraid in seconds.

"W-what do you know about that? You have to see Akito, you have to see him right now-" The boy began to panic. Sakura rushed over to him.

"It's okay, it's okay. We're friends of Yuki, Kyo and Tohru. We've already spoken with Akito, and we know about the curse." The blonde seemed to stop panicking and looked at her in wonder.

"Really?"

"Really!" Naruto gave a cheeky grin. Momiji's face lit up again.

"Let us introduce ourselves. I'm Haruno Sakura." Sakura smiled.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!"

"Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke rolled his eyes.

_'Great. One more person to baby-sit.'_

"So Akito-san is letting you keep your memories? You and Tohru will be the only outside people who know!!!!" Momiji said excitedly.

"Akito's been awfully lenient lately." A boy who had come up behind Momiji pointed out. His hair was a strange combination of white and black, and all his clothing was black, with a lot of chains hanging around his neck. "I'm Sohma Hatsuharu, cousin of Momiji, Yuki, Kyo and Shigure." He kissed Sakura's hand and smirked. "But you may call me Haru." Sasuke tensed up at the contact.

"So what animals are you guys?" Naruto asked impatiently.

"Chill Naruto." Sakura rolled her eyes, and Momiji laughed.

"No, it's okay. I'm the rabbit of the zodiac, and Haru's the cow!!!" He said, bouncing around. Sasuke internally sweat dropped.

_'No surprises there…'_

Sakura couldn't help marvel at how beautiful all the Sohma men were.

**'It's like they won the genetic freaking lottery!!!!'**

_'But it's probably not easy to be that gorgeous and not be able to hug girls.'_

**'Hmm… I wonder if any of them are gay?'**

_'Inner!!! That's very rude to assume!!! And anyway, it's none of your business.'_

**'I wasn't assuming anything, I was just wondering. And wouldn't being gay solve the love problem?'**

_'…I suppose so…'_

**'Good girl. Hooray for YAOI!!!!'**

_'…'_

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After bidding the Sohma's a polite goodbye (and getting directions from Momiji) the three leaf ninjas headed home. They spent the walk in silence, all thinking about the mission. When they finally arrived at their apartment, Sakura walked straight to her room. Naruto, claiming he wasn't tired, flipped on the TV and began watching some late night talk show.

Sasuke, still being hungry opened the fridge. It was filled with ramen, ramen, and more ramen. He spotted a small container of strawberry yogurt in the corner.

_'Must be Sakura's…'_ He thought as he continued to look around. Finding nothing, Sasuke closed the fridge. It was then that he saw a note attached to the cabinet.

_Sasuke,_

_If you're still hungry after we get back from Tohru's, there's some microwavable tomato soup in the cabinet. Enjoy!_

_Sakura_

While Sasuke heated up the tomato soup, he couldn't help but wonder when Sakura had put this note up and how she would've known he'd still be hungry.

**'Some nice traits to look for in a wife…'**

_'WHAT?!'_

**'Oh come on. She's beautiful, smart, kind, caring…'**

_'Who the hell ARE you?'_

**'I'm You**.**'**

_'That can't be possible. I would never think about things like that.'_

**'Teenage hormones are a bitch. Deal with it.'**

Shutting out the annoying voice in his head, Sasuke drank his soup and walked to the room that he and Naruto shared. He found a feminine red t-shirt sitting on the floor. Figuring it to be Sakura's (but completely confused to how it ended up in his room,) The blue-haired teen walked to Sakura's room. Forgetting to knock, he opened the door.

There stood Sakura in her underwear, bra on the floor. She looked up to see a shocked Sasuke. The normally pale boy had turned completely red at the sight of the more than half naked girl.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" She screamed, grabbing the comforter off her bed and covering her body with it. "GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!!!!!" She grabbed the lamp on the bedside table and chucked it at him. Normally Sasuke would've been able to dodge this, but he was so shocked at seeing his teammate like this, that his senses were mixed up. The lamp ended up hitting him square in the forehead.

_'Damn she has good aim.' _He mentally swore as he snapped out of his reverie and ran from the room, the door slamming behind him. The red shirt lay forgotten on the floor in front of the door.

From his place on the couch, Naruto grinned. His plan had worked perfectly. His two best friends were much too dense to realize that they liked each other, and the situation had practically begged for a little of the blonde's help.

And in this small apartment, the scheming fox, embarrassed cherry blossom and slowly melting ice cube all had one thought.

_'Oh, tomorrow's gonna be fun.'_

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**Yay, THEY SURVIVED AKITO!!!!!!!!! Just goes to show how kick ass ninja are. **

**. Anyway, I won't be able to update for a while after this because I have to finish writing chapter 10. (Yes, chapters 1-9 are already prewritten, I just don't update much because I'm lazy.) The Akatsuki might not be in there till a bit later, so don't get your hopes up for them anytime soon. I'll try to fit something into chapter 10 for all you Akatsuki lovers though.**

**One last thing. I keep getting all these emails saying "Fave Alert". Seriously guys, I'm flattered, but I NEED REVIEWS!!!!! I think it's a pretty good story, don't you? Besides, reviews are what make me feel guilty enough to update sooner!!!!! **

**DISLAIMER(That I've forgotten to put in pretty much all the other chapters): Naruto is not mine. If it was, then Orochimaru would be Konoha's greatest gay fashion designer EVER!!!!!!!**

**Ja till next time, amigos.**


	6. Permission

**Disclaimer: How many freaking times do I have to say it before it gets through your thick skulls? I DON'T OWN NARUTO OR FRUIT'S BASKET!!!!!!!!!!! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW!?!?!?!?!?!?!**

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The next morning, Sakura woke up at five to take a shower. School didn't start 'till eight, but she didn't want a repeat of what had happened the night before. She decided to pretend Sasuke had never walked in on her in her underwear and no bra on.

At around six thirty, Sasuke got up and took a shower. He didn't remember the events of the previous night until he saw Sakura watching TV. Trying to hide the very slight blush on his cheeks, he checked the kitchen to find cereal, a bowl, a spoon and milk on the counter, waiting for him.

**'You know she looked pretty good in those panties…'**

_'You sound like Kakashi.'_

**'You're not denying it!!!!'**

_'Why do I get stuck with the pervert inner?'_

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Naruto woke up at seven fifteen, and went through his usual routine (shower, change, breakfast) and the three shinobi left the apartment in silence.

"You know, the Sohmas and Tohru probably think we got our memories erased. After all, there's no reason that they know of for us to know about the curse." Sakura pointed out. Naruto grinned.

"Leave the excuses to me!" He yelled, skipping ahead of his friends. He wanted to give them some time alone. Sakura and Sasuke walked along in an awkward silence. Finally feeling that something needed to be said (even though he had no desire to do it.)

"So…" he began, and Sakura looked at him. "Why were you taking your bra off anyway?" Oh crap, that was his inner taking over. Sakura quickly became the color of Sasuke's favorite fruit, the tomato.

"I THINK I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT IN **MY** ROOM, YOU PERVERT!!!!!" She screamed, then turned away. Sasuke smirked.

"That wasn't an answer." Sakura sighed angrily.

"If I tell you, will you just drop it?" Sasuke nodded. The pink haired shinobi put her head down and muttered something.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you?" Sasuke teased. Sakura glared at him.

"I said that…" She sighed and looked away. "Ino told me that if I wore my bra to bed… my chest wouldn't develop." She blushed furiously. Sasuke was completely baffled at why a smart girl like Sakura would believe something like that.

"It's not like you need it." Sasuke said quietly, making Sakura's face match the color of her hair. That one statement not only made her feel slightly better, the phrase's hidden meaning also implied that Sasuke had been looking at her chest. As soon as the stoic boy realized the double meaning of his words, his eyes widened.

"I didn't mean…"

"N-No! Of c-course not!" Sakura laughed nervously. Thank Kami the school was coming into view.

"If you two lovebirds are done, we're gonna be late!" Naruto yelled from the front of the school. The two blushing shinobi ran to catch up with their loudmouth friend and teammate.

The three actually got to class with five minutes to spare, being as unnaturally fast as they are. They walked in casually, putting their things at their seats and clustering at Sakura's desk to talk. They were so absorbed in their conversation (which happened to be about the time Naruto had been eating ramen so fast that some went up his nose. Sasuke had not been present; so Sakura and Naruto were relating it back to him, much to his own disgust and amusement. He especially liked the part where Naruto fell backwards clutching his throat in terror that he was going to choke on the mushy, wet noodles.) that they didn't see the Sohma's and Tohru walk in.

Naruto finally looked around and motioned to his teammates that they were there. The cursed family and Tohru had been carefully ignoring the shinobi, just in case they really did have their memories erased. It was too late to speak with any of them though, because Mayu-sensei had just walked in. Everyone took their seats.

As the teacher began to talk, Sakura carefully tore a tiny piece of paper from her notebook and wrote a single word on it. Then she carefully folded it up and discreetly passed it to Uo, who was seated behind her. Sakura made a quick point at Yuki, and slowly but surely, the note was passed through three more people to reach the other side of the room. When it finally landed on the violet-eyed boy's desk, he looked to see who it was that could have sent him such a note. Sakura purposely did not make eye contact, but watched as he slowly opened the note.

_'Nezumi.'_

Sakura watched Yuki's facial expression go from confusion to a beautiful smile as he looked up again. This time she made eye contact and winked at him before trying to listen to the teacher.

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At lunch Tohru ran up to the three shinobi, Kyo and Yuki following.

"Yuki-kun said that Akito-san didn't erase your memories!" she said gleefully. Naruto nodded vigorously, and Tohru hugged him. Deeply reminded of Hinata, the blonde smiled and hugged her back. Sasuke saw Kyo twitch ever so slightly, and the orange-headed boy began to walk towards a table. Everyone wordlessly followed him.

"So why did Akito let you keep your memories?" Yuki asked when everyone had finally started their lunch. Uo and Hana had a project to finish, so they were going to eat in the classroom.

"We don't know. He said something about us being useful." Naruto covered up quickly. Sasuke had to admit he was impressed with the witty cover-up. The blonde was eating calmly, listening in on the many conversations around him. He had really grown up since the blunette had left.

"That would be very like him." Yuki stated before taking a bite of his food. Suddenly, two very familiar figures walked up.

"Tohru-chan! How are you?" Momiji Sohma asked his friend. She smiled brightly.

"I'm good Momiji-kun." She noticed Sasuke staring at her. "Oh Gomen! Momiji-kun, Haru-kun, these are our friends-"

"Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke. Nice to see you three again." Haru smiled slightly.

"You as well, Haru-kun." Sakura smiled back.

"I see you've already met." Yuki observed.

"We got lost at the Main House last night, and these two helped us find our way." Naruto grinned.

"I hope you didn't try to get directions from Haru." Kyo growled. "He couldn't find his way out of a paper bag."

"Ya wanna repeat that, Kitty boy?" Haru said, his facial expression changing rapidly. His eyes became sharp and his smile sadistic. Nothing like the glazed, polite boy he had been a minute before.

"Yeah, I do. Your sense of direction is about as screwed up as your hair!"

"At least I'm not losing to Yuki all the time!"

"MAYBE, BUT I CAN SURE AS HELL BEAT YOU!!!!!" Kyo threw a flying kick at his opponent, and the fight began. The three shinobi blinked, then turned to Yuki for an explanation.

"He's gone black." The silver haired boy sighed.

"Reminds me of Chouji when the market is all out of barbeque chips." Naruto whispered to Sakura, who giggled quietly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sasuke asked Yuki.

"Haru is normally calm and air headed. But when he gets angry like this, his normally polite demeanor goes down the drain, along with his memory of his actions. Our family calls this side of him Black Haru."

"So when he was talking to us, he was White Haru?" Naruto asked. Yuki nodded.

"Sakura-chan!" Momiji grabbed the pink-haired shinobi's arm. "We should all do something after school together!"

"That sounds like a great idea Momiji-kun!" Tohru beamed. Sakura nodded with a smile.

"I agree. What should we do?"

"We should go over to Shigure's house!" Momiji hopped about happily.

"Don't just invite yourself over!" Kyo yelled, in the midst of his fight with Haru. The black and white-haired boy got up and grabbed Sakura's arm.

"No, I think it's a fantastic idea. Then I can get some alone time with _this _little cutie…" He said suggestively. Sakura shivered slightly.

In a flash Sasuke brought his foot up in a roundhouse kick to Haru's face, throwing the boy to the floor with a crash. He put his hand on Sakura's shoulder while everyone blinked. Haru, with a growing bruise on his cheek, sat up drowsily.

"What happened?" he asked, back to normal. Everyone sweatdropped.

"You went black." Yuki explained.

"Oh."

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After school, (as planned by the girls and Momiji) everyone went to Shigure's house. Dropping their stuff, they pulled out homework and had a mini study session. There was lots of laughter and arguing, but all in all, everyone seemed pretty happy.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Tohru rushed to get it.

"Kazuma-san! What a surprise!" Everyone heard from the living room, and Kyo jumped up. A man with long blonde hair in a ponytail walked in, and Kyo bowed.

"Shishou."

"Kyo." After a moment, the two hugged. Then Kazuma noticed the others.

"Hello Haru, Momiji, Yuki." He nodded to the three, who bowed from where they were sitting. "And you three must be Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke, the ones who found out about the curse." They turned to the man, and Naruto stood up and stuck out his hand.

"Uzumaki Naruto, at your service!" He smiled brightly as the older man shook his hand. "These are my friends, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke." Both shinobi nodded at the mention of their names, and Kazuma smiled at them. Sakura was greatly reminded of Iruka-sensei when she saw that smile, and it made her feel safe.

"I'm Sohma Kazuma, Kyo's adopted father. I also run the Sohma Family Dojo." This perked Sasuke's interest.

"A dojo?"

"Yes. All the cursed members of the zodiac took martial arts lessons there when they were younger. Some, like Kyo, still go there to occasionally train." Kazuma explained. "Do you do martial arts?"

"Only a little." Sakura answered before her teammates could boast about their skills. "We all do a bit."

"We should fight then!" Kyo exclaimed excitedly.

"Why don't you all come down on Sunday?" The dojo master suggested, and everyone agreed to be there. A coughing sound came from right outside the door.

"Oh, I forgot. Shigure, on my way to your house, I found someone looking for this place. He said he needed to speak to Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. I figured they were here, so I brought him with me." The older man explained as a man appeared in the doorway. He had gravity defying silver hair that fell across his face, covering his left eye. He wore a t-shirt, jeans and sneakers, a thin mask covering the bottom part of his face.

"Yo." He smiled.

"Kakashi-sensei!!!" Sakura, Naruto and even Sasuke yelled. They rushed up to the man.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked. Kakashi was about to answer when Shigure cleared his throat expectantly.

"Oh, Shigure-san, Kazuma-san, Kyo-kun, Yuki-kun, Haru-kun, Momiji-kun and Tohru-chan, this was our teacher in our old school, Hatake Kakashi." Sakura lied. Well, it wasn't _really_ a lie, but a slightly twisted version of the truth.

"Yo." Kakashi waved at the Sohma's, who waved back awkwardly. He then turned to Naruto. "I actually came to tell you something. Come outside with me for a second." The blonde followed the older man back outside.

"What's with the hair covering his eye? He looks like Hatori." Kyo asked.

"He may look slightly like Hatori-san, but acts more like Shigure-san. He's a first class pervert, and you'll never see him without his book of porn, also known as Icha Icha Paradise." Sakura mused. Shigure looked overjoyed while everyone else just looked distressed.

"Great. Another Shigure. Just what we need." Yuki mumbled.

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"So what is it, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, curious as to why his old sensei would be here.

"Tsunade's been thinking it over, and she's decided that as the Rokudaime, you should attend Hinata's ceremony." The silver haired jounin smiled and began a mental countdown.

'_3…'_

The information was just beginning to sink into Naruto's head.

'_2…'_

The blonde's innocent (or less than innocent) face began to turn into a foxy smile.

'_1…'_

As if on cue, Naruto shot up into the air, screaming.

"YAAAAAAHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The only way you could tell that Kakashi was laughing was the shaking of his shoulders. Naruto flipped twice before returning to the earth with a "THUD".

"ARIGATOU KAKASHI-SENSEI!!!!!" Naruto yelled before running inside. Kakashi chuckled one more time before disappearing with a poof.

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Inside, the Sohma's, Tohru, Sasuke and Sakura had heard the scream. Figuring it to be of joy, Sakura told the Sohma's and Tohru not to worry about it. Just then, Naruto rushed in.

"THEY'RE LETTING ME GO TO HINATA'S CEREMONY!!!!!!!!" He yelled excitedly. Sakura's face lit up and Sasuke smirked.

"That's great Naruto!" Sakura hugged her best guy friend.

"Congrats Dobe." Naruto was too happy to yell at Sasuke for calling him a dobe.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kyo asked, a confused look dominating his features, with a tint of annoyance.

" Hinata is Naruto's girlfriend back from where we used to live. She's becoming head of her family next week. Naruto wasn't sure if he was going to be able to go, because of us living so far away now, but apparently, he just got clearance." Sakura smiled.

"Aren't you two invited?" Yuki asked.

"Yes, but it's too far away for Sasuke and I to go, and Kakashi-sensei only has room for one more in his car. Naruto only gets to go because he's Hinata's boyfriend. But you have a point; she is a very good friend of mine." Sakura explained.

"That's so wonderful! I'm so happy for you!" Tohru exclaimed, starts in her eyes. "What does Hinata-chan look like?"

"She's gorgeous!" Naruto raved, making Sakura smile. "I think I have a picture of her here somewhere." The blonde dug through his pockets, front first, then back. He found the photograph in his back right pocket. Pulling it out with a grin, he looked at it fondly.

It had been taken the day Hinata won the fight against her sister. Naruto had taken her out for dinner after that, to a very fancy restaurant. Much to her surprise, it had not been a place that served ramen, and Naruto had been quite the gentlemen, pulling out her seat for her and eating politely.

After dinner, the two had gone for a walk in a nearby park. They had seen Shikamaru, and asked him to take a picture of the two of them together. He had grudgingly obliged.

In the picture, Hinata was sitting in a sakura tree in full bloom, the small flowers complimenting her perfectly. She was wearing a lavender spaghetti strap dress, with gold flowers embroidered from the bottom, up to the left side of her stomach. She was only smiling gently, but her eyes betrayed the happiness inside her. She wore her dark purple hair down, where it fell to about right under her chest.

Naruto stood beside her, holding her hand and giving the camera a foxy grin. To everyone's surprise, he wore a black tuxedo. Sakura and Sasuke sweatdropped when they saw that he was wearing an orange bowtie with the tux. Same old Naruto.

"She's adorable!" Tohru gasped, her eyes sparkling at the sight of the happy couple. Naruto nodded his head vigorously in agreement.

"Lemme see it." Kyo said, swiping the picture. He was shocked to find that Tohru was telling the truth. This girl was beautiful! Her lavender-white eyes were a little strange, but they somehow only added to her beauty.

"How'd a girl like this get set up with a guy like you?" He asked, dropping the photo on the table discreetly so everyone could see what he was talking about. They almost gasped at the sight of the pretty girl and goofball blonde.

"Well if you _must_ know, she's had a crush on me since we were in grade school." Naruto said with a grin. Sakura decided to deflate his ego a little bit.

"Yeah, but Naruto was too dense to figure it out until we turned 14." She said, poking her blonde teammate in the shoulder. He scowled at her and rubbed his shoulder tenderly.

Sasuke, who had been watching the clock, nudged Sakura in the side before standing up. The pink-haired kunoichi looked at the clock and stood up with him.

"Well, it's getting late, and I still have to make dinner for these two." Sakura grinned as Naruto finally got the picture back and stood up. (A/N: And Tohru thinks Sakura living with Naruto and Sasuke is about as weird as her living with three unmarried men, okay?) "We'll see you guys at school tomorrow!" She called as they headed towards the door.

"Bye!" Tohru called from the doorway as the three shinobi walked down the path, waving till the house was out of view. After returning to their apartment, Sakura made dinner as Naruto went on and on about the ceremony and Hinata. The pink-haired girl made note to report this to the Hyuuga Heiress, who would surely blush uncontrollably.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That night, after Sakura had retreated to her room (and had _locked_ it this time) and Naruto was sure Sasuke was asleep (or about as sure as he could be about anything concerning the Uchiha) the blonde lay in bed, staring intently at his picture of himself and Hinata. Even though it was too dark to see the photograph clearly, he could already imagine it in his mind's eye.

Okay, so he wasn't usually the most responsible of the group, and tended to forget things a lot. But Naruto had memorized her every curve, smile, emotion and posture, so he would never forget what his true love looked like.

Kissing the picture and slipping it under his pillow, Naruto fell asleep. That night, the blonde dreamed about sakura petals and twilight walks in the park.

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**CHAPTER 10 IS FINALLY FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M SO FRIGGIN PROUD OF MYSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know it's been a long wait, and I'm really sorry, but I had a major writer's block in the middle of the chapter, and it was horrible, and I'm really sorry again. But it's six pages long (without extra spacing) so enjoy it. And I don't remember if I already said this or not, but the plot won't come in for a while. There's gonna be more filler-ish chapters kinda like this one, but I have an idea of where I'm going with it.**

**A lovely reviewer sent me a message about how much she enjoyed that I didn't curse very much in this story. I'm sort of sorry to say, I only don't curse because I can't. I'm not sure what it is, but my father installed something in our computer that prevents me from saying certain curse words. So until I can get my own laptop, the language will be downplayed. I curse like a construction worker in real life though. **

**Review, por favor!**

**AND BY THE WAY!!!! Just in case you didn't know, Nezumi is the Japanese word for Rat. It may seem silly that this was all Sakura would write, but she couldn't say too much, just in case the note fell into the wrong hands. **


	7. Bonds Made of Ice Cream

The next few days passed by without too much difficulty, as the shinobi and Sohma's (plus Tohru) had established a routine. After school they would always go to Shigure's house to do homework, sometimes staying for dinner, sometimes not. Of course, each peaceful day made the shinobi even more nervous for the attack to come.

The day of Hinata's ceremony was quickly approaching, making Naruto more and more excited. He babbled on and on, to the point where if any of the group heard Hyuuga one more time, they would hurl.

One day, Sakura was walking home from the supermarket alone. She had to run home, put the food away, then meet Sasuke and Naruto for dinner at the Sohma's. It didn't help that she was already running 15 minutes late.

"Hey you." A voice called. Sakura snapped out of her thoughts to see a boy leaning against a tree about ten steps ahead of her. He looked young, maybe in middle school, and had light brown hair with dark brown eyes.

"Can I help you?" Sakura asked, raising an eyebrow at the boy. His brown eyes were boring into her jade ones.

"Is that the first thing you say to a person? How can you help them? Why don't you help yourself? Don't follow everyone's orders all the time. Sheesh, I can't believe I wasted time to come out here and meet you." He scoffed.

"Who are you?" Sakura questioned, very confused.

"That's a very rude way to speak to someone. Didn't your parents ever teach you any manners?" The boy rolled his eyes. "If you must know, I'm Sohma Hiro." He began to walk towards her.

"What do you want?" Sakura asked, taking a step back.

"It's not what I want, it's what I'm entitled to. Making me, a mere child, come all the way out here to meet you. I deserve something." before the pink-haired girl could stop him, Hiro was rooting through her grocery bags. He found some ice cream bars and quickly took the box. "Hmm. These will have to do." Hiro began to run away.

"Weak woman!" He yelled before he left, knocking Sakura out of her stupor. Getting red in the face, the girl began to sprint after the boy angrily. She watched him take out one of the chocolate ice cream bars-her_ favorite_ kind- and stick it into his mouth.

_'Oh, this kid is goin DOWN!'_

Meanwhile at Shigure's house, Kisa, Momiji and Haru had come to have dinner with the three shinobi. Everyone was waiting on Sakura and Hiro, who were supposed to join them.

"Nee-chan, do you think she'll like me?" Kisa asked Tohru, who smiled warmly at the girl.

"Of course Kisa-chan! Sakura-chan will adore you. I'm sure of it."

"Yeah, and her hair is even weirder than yours." Kyo said, walking into the kitchen. Kisa looked at the floor, and Yuki hit Kyo hard on the side of the head.

"You're not one to talk, baka neko." the silver haired boy hissed, and Kyo growled at him. Shigure clucked like a hen.

"It's a sad, sad day when we're all labeled because of our hair color."

Kisa seemed to have not heard the author; she was too focused on a sound coming from outside. Her super sensitive ears had picked up footsteps and panting coming up the path.

"Nee-chan, someone's coming." She tugged on Tohru's skirt.

"Oh, it's probably Sakura-chan!" the brunette said happily before walking into the living room. Sasuke and Naruto had apparently heard the sound, because they were standing up as well. The two male shinobi, Tohru and Kisa rushed outside.

There stood Hiro, panting heavily, a chocolate ice cream bar sticking out the side of his mouth. Sasuke and Naruto, seeing the treat, looked at each other. This couldn't be good.

Behind Hiro stood Sakura, not even sweating, much less panting. She wore a pink tank top, blue jeans and an angry expression on her face. In her hands were two shopping bags.

"Jeez _wheeze _you old hag _wheeze _How'd you _wheeze _get so fast?" Hiro panted. Sakura's face went bright red.

"What. Did. You. Just. Call. Me?" She said through gritted teeth. Naruto rushed up to her.

"Now Sakura-chan, he didn't mean it. He's just a stupid kid." The blonde said quickly, trying to calm his friend down. Sadly, it wasn't working. Using her superhuman strength, Sakura grabbed Hiro's ankle and held him upside down. By now, the rest of the Sohmas had come out to see what all the racket was, and many of them laughed at the helpless boy.

Sakura was about to start spinning Hiro and toss his sorry ass all the way to mars when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Sakura." It was Sasuke. "Calm down. He doesn't know better." The redness in Sakura's face lessened a bit. "Put the boy down." Hiro was dropped to the ground. Sasuke could have a very calming affect on people when he wanted to. Soon Sakura's face returned to its normal color and Hiro glared at her. Sasuke took him by the collar.

"And no more wisecracks out of you." Hiro, for once fearful for his life, nodded. Sasuke dropped him and took Sakura inside. The ice cream was starting to melt.

--

After putting away the food, Sakura was introduced to Kisa. And Tohru was right.

"KAWAII!!" The pink-haired girl had squealed and hugged the little girl. Kisa, happy to have another big sister, hugged back. This only increased Hiro's dislike for the female shinobi.

After dinner, which consisted of many laughs, glares and overall chaos, Sakura sat down with Kisa alone in the living room. Most of the boys were fighting over something at the table, and Naruto was helping Tohru with the dishes.

"So Kisa, how do you like school?" Sakura asked. Kisa avoided the older girl's eyes.

"I get teased a lot."

"Why?" This confused Sakura. Kisa was gentle, kind, and not to mention adorable! She would be a gorgeous young woman one day. In fact, the pink-haired girl was surprised that boys weren't throwing themselves at her feet _now._

"They say my hair and eyes are weird." Now Sakura was appalled. That was all?

"Kisa-chan, your hair and eyes are no weirder than mine." She smiled. "In fact, when I was a bit younger than you, I got teased a lot too."

"Why?" Kisa couldn't see the reason why anyone would want to tease her Nee-chan. Sakura was absolutely _beautiful._

"When I was younger, my forehead was _huge._ Bigger than it is now." the older girl explained. "But you know what? I grew into it, and all those people who used to tease me now want to be my friend."

"But what if they never stop?" Kisa asked, lower lip trembling slightly. Sakura thought for a moment.

"You know what you need Kisa-chan?" The younger girl shook her head. "You need someone your age to look up to. I had someone, and they helped me make friends and raise my self-esteem."

"Who?"

"My best friend. Her name is Ino, and she's really pretty. When we were younger, she saw me getting picked on and took me under her wing. She told me I would be as pretty as she was one day, and I just had to wait for it. We've been best friends ever since." Sakura explained, leaving out the few years where they had hated each other's guts. "Do you have anyone like that?"

"Well…. I have Hiro-kun. He's always there for me." Kisa smiled happily.

"Hiro does seem to have a lot of confidence in him, doesn't he?" Sakura snorted, then smiled. "He would be a good person to look up to though. You should ask him if he could help you gain some self-esteem." The pink-haired shinobi knew that Hiro was standing right outside the door listening. Kisa jumped off the couch happily.

"Arrigatou, Onee-chan!" She said as she hugged Sakura, then headed towards the door to look for her cousin.

"Oh, and Kisa-chan?"

"Nani?" Sakura smirked.

"Be sure not to pick up any of Hiro's little…. habits."

--

When it was time to go, Yuki, Kyo, Haru, Momiji and Tohru agreed to meet the Shinobi at the Sohma dojo by nine o'clock on Sunday. Then they bid their farewells and went home. That night, lying in bed, Sakura thought about Kisa and Hiro.

_'It's painfully obvious that he has a crush on her.'_

**'Yeah, and they look so cute together!'**

_'Yeah, even if Hiro is a pain in the ass sometimes…'_

And with that, she drifted off to sleep.

Two days later, everyone met at the Sohma Dojo at 9 o'clock sharp. Kazuma was there to greet them, and told them they had the whole dojo to themselves.

The first fight was Kyo vs. Yuki. Their movements were quick, but nowhere near shinobi level. Yuki won, leaving Kyo grumbling on the sidelines. The next fight was Momiji vs. Haru. Amazingly enough, Momiji won. Probably because halfway through the fight, Kyo shouted out an insult at Haru that turned him black, and it took the combined efforts of Yuki and Kazuma to turn him white again.

The next fight was Momiji vs. Yuki, the Shinobi insisting to go last. Yuki won, and was proclaimed undefeated champion of the Sohmas.

"Yuki-kun, do you think you could fight me so I can practice?" Sakura asked innocently, completely fooling the boy. He nodded.

"You're still a beginner, right?" He asked as they took their stances.

"It depends on what you call a beginner." She said, cleverly avoiding answering the question.

"I'll go easy on you, because you're still new at this." Sakura shrugged, but was inwardly smirking.

"If you insist."

The fight began, Yuki making the first move by running towards the pink-haired girl. She jumped to the side, brought her foot around for a kick to the back of his head, landing him on his stomach. She put a foot down on his back, and held up his right arm to keep him down.

"Sakura wins!" Kazuma called, still slightly amazed at what he had just seen. Even Kyo, who had been teaching Tohru a few basic punches, started in wide-eyed amazement. Mumbling could be heard from the mat.

"We have very different definitions of beginner."

--

After helping Yuki up and apologizing, everyone asked Sakura how she did it.

"You said you only knew a little!" Kyo exclaimed and Sakura shrugged.

"Well, I know a bit more than you thought. It doesn't really matter. Both these guys are better than me." She pointed at Sasuke and Naruto. Everyone stared at them. Sasuke rolled his eyes while Naruto grinned sheepishly.

"Fight me." Kyo demanded. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Baka. If we're better than Sakura, and Sakura beat Yuki, who's better than you, what makes you think you stand a chance?" Kyo was about to object, but decided not to when he saw the look in Sasuke's eyes.

"So who's next?" Kazuma asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"I'll fight Naruto." Sasuke decreed. Naruto shrugged and hauled himself onto the mats. They got into their stances. Both knew the rules. No jutsus, no bloodline limits, and nothing that would give away their cover.

"Go!" Kazuma yelled, and both boys rushed forward, using pure taijutsu to fuel them. Sasuke threw the first set of attacks, a series of light punches and kicks. They couldn't do anything to dangerous, because Tohru would worry like their was no tomorrow. Everything in this fight had to be light and meaningless.

Naruto blocked all of Sasuke's punches, and even threw in a few of his own. Now Naruto was on the offense, kicking at Sasuke's legs and forcing the Uchiha to flip to avoid being tripped.

The battle went on for a few more minutes like this, each boy switching from offense to defense and defense to offense every minute or so. Finally, Naruto decided to end it. Sasuke had just landed a very spur of the moment flip, and his ankles were feeling wobbly. Naruto aimed all his strength into his right foot and flew into Sasuke's left leg, knocking him forward over the blonde. Naruto flipped backwards and landed on Sasuke's stomach, straddling him.

"Naruto wins!" Kazuma shouted as everyone came onto the mats to ask the two boys how they'd done it. Sasuke glared at his best friend.

"I let you win." he hissed, even though both boys knew he hadn't. Naruto smirked.

"I'm the Rokudaime for a reason, Sasuke. Maybe next time." the blonde stood and offered a hand to help Sasuke up. The blunette sighed and took the hand.

--

After avoiding as many questions as possible, the Shinobi said goodbye to the Sohmas and walked home. Monday was Hinata's clan ceremony, and Naruto only had a day to figure out what he was going to wear.

"That was fun!" Sakura said as she entered their apartment. Naruto nodded in agreement and raced to his bedroom. So much to do, so little time.

Sasuke just 'hn-ed' and began searching through the fridge. He found a bottle of tomato juice that he chugged down. Sakura just sat at the counter, staring into space. He noticed this.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked. Sakura was surprised. This was new.

"Naruto, You, the Sohmas."

"Me? What about me?" Sasuke asked, honestly curious.

"Similarities. The rivalry between Yuki and Kyo is a lot like the one you and Naruto used to-and still do-have. Except the one between Yuki and Kyo has and age old reason behind it." Sakura explained remembering reading the story about the cat and rat. "And Kazama-san reminds me a lot of Iruka-sensei. He just gives off this comforting aura that makes you want to like him, you know?" Sasuke nodded. He had rather liked their academy teacher.

Suddenly, a large shout of exaltation was heard from the room Sasuke and Naruto shared. Sakura laughed.

"So he finally found an outfit." she chuckled. Sasuke couldn't help but think about how cute she was when she laughed.

"So what do you think?" Naruto asked, bursting from the room. He was wearing black pants, a black t-shirt with the Uzumaki swirl on it, and black shinobi sandals. He wore a long white cloak with blue flames on the bottom over them. Sakura smiled warmly and hugged him, remembering a picture she had once seen of the Fourth Hokage. They looked so alike.

"You look great, Naruto. Hinata-chan will be thrilled to see you there."

--

That night the three shinobi went to sleep with high hopes for the next day.

**--**

**… Hi guys. Yes, I know it's been ridiculously long since my last update, but I'm not gonna give this fic up. I'm just in kind of an emotional and writing rut right now, okay? Hear me out.**

**Two of my family members died in the course of one week- my uncle, on Monday, May 19th, 2008, and my grandmother, on Monday, May 26th 2008. Both were incredible people and I will miss them dearly. **

**Back to my writing side… I just realized there's a total yaoi moment in the fight scene. See if you can pick it up. :D And I know I don't deserve it, but… review, please?**

**Happy Summer!**

**Moxi**


	8. The Ceremony

The next day Kakashi came early to collect Naruto, and the two set off towards the village. Sasuke and Sakura went to school as usual, and after that headed over to the Sohma's house with Uo and Hana. The group had been having a snack and starting homework when Naruto burst in, dressed in regular clothing.

"Hey guys!" He yelled, and everyone greeted him warmly. He then turned to his two best friends. "I have so much to tell you! You'll never guess what happened!"

"Enlighten us." Sakura laughed and Naruto plopped down to tell his story.

---

_Naruto and Kakashi made their way back home, and went straight to the Hyuuga household. The entire family was gathered in the courtyard, chairs and a stage having been set up. In the front row sat Neji and Hanabi, along with an empty seat that Naruto assumed was for Hiashi._

_The blonde also noticed that all of Hinata's friends (excluding Neji) were sitting in the last few rows. Kiba, Shino and Kurenai were there, along with Tenten, Ino, Lee, Shikamaru, and Gai. Naruto quickly sat down in an empty seat next to Tenten, Kakashi choosing to stand a few feet behind the group with Gai and Kurenai._

_"Naruto!" Tenten squealed when she saw him, and gave him a hug. This alerted the rest of the group, who gave their happy greetings._

_"Hey guys. Did I miss anything?" Naruto asked, and Ino shook her head._

_"Nope, they're going to start in a minute." She leaned in closer. "You done anything to push Ice Cube and Forehead together?" It was a little known fact that the two blondes of Konoha were in on the scheme to get their best friends together._

_"He walked in on her changing!" He snickered and both of them laughed quietly until Tenten shushed them. The ceremony was beginning._

_Hiashi walked up on stage to where a podium was set up._

_"Welcome Hyuuga family, and friends, to this glorious occasion. Today we honor my eldest daughter, Hyuuga Hinata, by giving her the rightful position of head of the clan. Recently, Hinata has shown rather remarkable improvement and confidence in herself, and I believe she is now ready for this responsibility. As I will be stepping down from my current position as clan head, Hinata will be making all the decisions. Her word is law, and if anyone dares to defy her, they will be given the same kind of punishment that I would have given." Naruto snorted at this. That was highly unlikely. Hiashi continued._

_"I now give you the rose of the Hyuuga family, Lady Hyuuga Hinata, new clan head!" Everyone clapped ecstatically, for Hinata was well known and loved by the rest of the family, especially in the cadet branch. Her friends all stood up and cheered, Naruto being the loudest of all. Big surprise there._

_Hinata came out from behind a curtain. She was dressed in a deep purple kimono that matched her eyes perfectly. Her hair was done up in several complicated braids that looked like a pain in the ass to walk around with. She gracefully took her father's place at the podium as he sat down._

_"Thank you for your kindness." She began. "As most of you know, when I was younger, I was quite shy. I stuttered when I spoke and blushed when given any sort of attention." Some of the family laughed lightly remembering the modest little girl they grew up with. "But with help from my wonderful sensei, Yuuhi Kurenai, my teammates, Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba, my various friends, and my cousin, Neji-niisan, I have overcome most of that." She paused, then smiled. "Another wonderful person I would like to thank is my boyfriend, Uzumaki Naruto, for always being there for me. Even though he is supposed to be away right now, he made time to be here on this memorable day." Everyone (except Hiashi) 'awwed' at this. Most of them happened to like the blonde's spirit and boundless energy._

_Naruto smiled lovingly at Hinata, and she winked at him. Then her face became serious._

_"Now I have been studying the law of the clan for many months now, and have found some things that I dislike greatly. The Caged Bird Seal." The crowd began to whisper. Neji shushed them, wanting to hear what his cousin had to say. "This tradition has been going on for many generations, as a way to protect the Byakugan from enemies who want to abuse it. The seal is a shameless trick to fall back upon, and needs to be stopped." Hiashi looked stunned. "As my first act as Head of the Hyuuga Clan, I hereby banish the caged bird seal for further use on anyone, in any branch!"_

_The crowd erupted in cheers, except for Hiashi and a few of the advisors. Hell, even Hanabi and Neji were cheering._

_"But that's not all." Hinata said with a smile. Naruto smiled as well, knowing what was coming. "I have spoken with the Rokudaime, and he knows of a great seal master in Wave Country that has agreed to remove all the caged bird seals from the family." The crowd screamed in joy. Tenten laughed to see her boyfriend, Neji, jumping up and down with Hanabi happily._

_"Ahem." Hinata shushed the crowd one last time, and gave a coy smile. "Now I know that some of you are angry at me for breaking an age old tradition, but I really don't care. I have hopefully improved the lives of many in our family, and that is all I wish for." She took a deep breath. "I'm not exactly sure how to say this, so I'll just say it right out. I honestly don't want this job. I'm not nearly experienced enough to appreciate it, and don't know enough to do it properly. But I know someone who does." She smiled so brightly that it practically lit up the entire area. "So as my final act as head of the Hyuuga clan, I hereby name Hyuuga Neji as my successor, and step down from my position."_

_Gasps rippled through the crowd. In the history of the Hyuuga clan, this was the first time something like this had ever happened. Poor Neji was staring at his cousin, jaw touching the floor. Hiashi stormed up the podium angrily._

_"You can't do that! Only a member of the Main Branch can become clan head!" he hissed as his eldest daughter. Hinata didn't flinch. Instead, she stared her father right in the eyes._

_"Actually, __**Father**__, the Clan head does __**not**__ have to be a member of the Main Branch to be clan head. I have been reading some scrolls I found in the basement-ones that date back all the way to the beginning of the Hyuuga clan and the discovery of the Byakugan- that have some of the original rules of our clan. It says, and I quote, "A clan head must be a leader to all, respected and authoritative. But they must also be understanding and helpful to those around them. The only reason that someone may not be Clan head is if they have shamed the family in any way." As time went on, we made up that rule about branches because we didn't want those we thought inferior to surpass us. We even sunk as low as to brand them with a reminder for why we thought they were inferior!"_

_Hiashi, unable to retaliate, simply stormed away angrily. Hinata's face relaxed and she motioned for Neji to join her on stage. The brunette slowly joined his female cousin and stood at the podium._

_"Thank you for this opportunity." He began, eyes threatening to spill tears. "I would like to thank Hinata-sa- I mean Hinata-chan for everything she's done for me, and my father, for always watching over me from above." He paused, then smiled. "I would also like to thank Naruto for teaching me that fate can be changed, no matter how set-in-stone it may seem." Everyone liked Neji; he was the prodigy of the clan. So you can imagine how thrilled they all were. One woman in the middle of the crowd kept screaming, "THAT'S MY BABY! THAT'S MY BABY!" Over and over again._

_"For my own first act as Clan Head, I would like to name Hinata-chan as my head advisor." Neji announced, as if daring anyone to protest. No one did, and Hinata nodded at her cousin, a small smile playing on both their faces._

_Naruto looked over at Tenten to find that she was beaming at her boyfriend, tears running freely down her cheeks._

_"This is everything he's ever wanted." She whispered. "Something he thought he could never have." The blonde took her hand and squeezed it._

_"Anything is possible Ten-chan." He smiled. Tenten laughed through her tears._

_"Thank you Naruto-kun."_

_---_

"And that's what happened." Naruto finished, leaving out parts about the seals and the village that could've given away their cover. Sakura and Tohru were crying, and Sasuke was smirking. Yuki just smiled, and Kyo scowled at the ceiling.

"That's so beautiful!" Tohru cried, blowing her nose into a handkerchief. Sakura nodded, wiping away her own tears.

"So why is it so important?" Kyo asked, annoyed that everyone was being all 'sob-sob' about everything. Naruto just looked at him.

"The head of the Hyuuga clan makes all the decisions in the family. Their word is law. Past clan heads have abused this power and used it to make the clan more powerful, not necessarily to the benefit of the people. With Neji in command, the family could make a change for the better." The blonde smiled. "And because now Hinata has a higher position than Hiashi, he can't bug us anymore!"

Everyone laughed at this. Just then, Shigure popped his head through the door.

"Hello Naruto-kun! When did you get here?"

"Just a little while ago." the boy responded.

"Do you need something, Shigure-kun?" Tohru asked politely. The dog shook his head, but smiled deviously.

"No, **I'm** fine Tohru-kun. But my guests might want something."

"What guests?" Kyo demanded. Suddenly, the front door flew open and a man (or was it a woman?) with long silver hair rushed into the room.

"YUUUUUUUUKKKKKKIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!"

---

I'm BAAAAAACK!

Please go to my profile for more info about my ridiculous absence. Sorry about that, by the way. :D

I got a new name, but I'm still the old cooliocows215 that you all know and love!

... or don't love. I can understand why, though... D:

YAY NEJI 3


	9. My Pet Snake Manda

The three shinobi looked on as Yuki was glomped by this strange, silver haired man-woman. The rat did not seem very pleased by it either.

"Get. Off. Me." he seethed. The man-woman's glowing face pouted.

"But Yuki! Are you not happy to see your one and only older brother?" The shinobi sweatdropped.

_'So it __**is **__a man!'_ Naruto thought.

**'Thank you, Sherlock Holmes.' **Kyuubi responded sarcastically.

_'I'll ignore that. But who knew they were related? I mean, Yuki's so reserved, and this guy so…isn't…'_

**'Life's screwy that way, kit.'**

Naruto was snapped out of his mental conversation when Sasuke elbowed him in the ribs. After glaring at his stoic friend, the blonde paid attention to what was happening. Yuki had managed to get his brother off of him, and the man was just now noticing the three shinobi.

"You three must be the ones that Akito let know our secret!" He cried joyously, then struck a very _Gai _pose. "I am Ayame Sohma, Yuki's gorgeous older brother, and the Snake of the zodiac!!!!" Suddenly, the man practically _slithered _over to where Sasuke was.

"You've been around a snake before. Trust me, I can tell." He said, smiling unnervingly at the boy. Onyx eyes bore into gold ones emotionlessly.

"I have a pet snake at home. His name is Manda." Sasuke stated. It took all Naruto and Sakura had not to burst out laughing. Ayame blinked, then beamed at him.

"I like you already!" he yelled, attempting to hug the boy. Yuki and Kyo held him back.

"Shigure, why'd you have to have _him_ over?!" The orange-headed boy yelled. Shigure grinned.

"That's not all I invited."

A sudden crash was heard, and the door went flying past them. In the (now empty) space stood a girl maybe a few years older than Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto. She had dark brown hair that went to her shoulders, dark brown eyes, and wore a kitty cat backpack. In no way did she look like she just took down the door.

"Is… Is Kyo here?" She asked. The cat looked horrified and began to inch away, muttering curses under his breath. Unfortunately, she spotted him first.

"Kyo? Kyo, my love!" She began a dramatic run towards him. "I'VE MISSED YOU SO MUCH!" The dramatic run soon became a high-speed chase, the new girl winning in the first five minutes. She picked up Kyo and started to violently beat the crap out of him. Naruto and Sasuke sweatdropped, both reminding themselves not to get any woman angry if they wanted to live to see their twentieth birthdays.

Kyo might have been a good martial artist, but he was no match for this girl's raw strength. Not surprisingly, Sakura was not bothered by any of the commotion around her. After seeing your teacher do it and later being able to do it yourself, it got kind of old.

"What's up with her?" She asked. Shigure sighed.

"That's Kagura Sohma, the boar of the zodiac. She's got the biggest crush on Kyo, but shows her love through violence. It usually leads to the injury of others-mainly Kyo- and the damage of property-mainly mine." He whimpered the last part. One of Sakura's eyebrows rose.

"And you invited her over here voluntarily?"

"She said she wanted to make sure that Kyo wasn't cheating on her with the new girl, and insisted on coming." Shigure smiled, and Sakura couldn't help but smile along with him as she went to go tell her friends this new bit of information.

_'As if.'_

Finally, Kagura stopped and stared at Kyo. She then burst into a fit of sobs.

"OH KYO! WHO COULD'VE DONE SUCH A HORRIBLE THING TO YOU?" She wailed, and everyone sweatdropped. It seemed that she had no memory of her… behavior.

---

"I'm really sorry about all the damage." Kagura apologized when she was finally calm enough to sit and talk like a civilized person. In totally, the girl had broken the front door, a lamp, two small tables and a vase that had been sitting on the kitchen counter.

"It's alright." Shigure smiled. "I'll just have to call a handyman."

"That's okay." Naruto said standing up. "I'll fix them. I'm really good at stuff like this." He started heading towards the kitchen. Yuki was about to say he didn't have to, but Sasuke stopped him.

"Let him do it." he said. "He won't take no for an answer." Yuki dropped the subject.

In fact, Sakura and Sasuke both knew that the blonde was good at fixing things because the villagers had repeatedly broken his possessions when he was younger. After doing it for so long, it was kind of like a natural instinct.

"So what are your names?" Kagura asked. Sakura laughed.

"Oh, how rude of us. I'm Haruno Sakura, this is Uchiha Sasuke, and the blonde was Uzumaki Naruto."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Kagura Sohma." She turned to Kyo with stars in her eyes. "I'm also the future Mrs. Kyo Sohma!" Said boy jumped at this.

"What?! Since when?!"

"Since you asked me to marry you!" Kagura pouted.

"Only because you said you'd pummel me if I didn't!"

"It still counts!"

"IT DOES NOT!"

Ignoring Kyo and Kagura's squabble, Sakura and Sasuke turned to Yuki and Ayame. It seemed the latter was trying to convince the former to let him do something.

"Please Yuki?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"Absolutely not."

"Pretty please with sugar and sprinkles and cheese on top?"

"…no."

"But YUKI…" The older man whined.

"What's the problem?" Sakura asked. Ayame beamed at her.

"I'm glad you asked, Sakura-chan! Yuki-kun here won't let you come to my shop on Wednesday."

"Why not?" Sasuke asked Yuki, who sighed.

"Because it's a ridiculous place that doesn't even deserve to be called a shop."

"That's not true!" Ayame protested dramatically. "My shop is man's greatest creation! I take men's fantasies and make them reality!" Sakura and Sasuke just looked at each other in slight confusion. Yuki rubbed his temples.

"He sells maid and nurse outfits." both shinobi sweatdropped, but Ayame jumped up.

"That's not all! Recently I have expanded my inventory to darker selections! I call it Princess Gothica." He announced. "And it's all of my own creation." He began to sparkle.

"So you design clothing?" Sasuke asked. "For men or women?"

"BOTH!" Yuki sighed again.

"The last time I went in there, he practically attacked me while wearing a wedding dress."

"I had to make sure it fit!"

"Then wouldn't you need a woman to try it on?" Sakura asked.

"Well if I did that, then it wouldn't fit the man that ordered it, now would it?" Ayame said, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. And for him, it was.

Sasuke and Sakura looked and each other, and made a mental decision. If it would get them closer to the family, then they would have to brave this "Fantasy Shop" as Ayame had called it. For the sake of the mission.

"We'll go." Sakura announced. Yuki just stared at her.

"It's your funeral." Ayame ran over and hugged Sasuke.

"HUZZAH! I MUST TELL MINE THAT WE HAVE POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS!" He yelled in the glacial boy's ear. Sasuke tried not to wince. "Your darkest fantasies will be revealed, then brought to life right before your eyes! If not, you can refer to our motto, "Guaranteed a nosebleed or your money back!" One of Yuki's eyebrows rose.

"Since when is that your motto?"

"Since I thought of it five minutes ago!"

Tuning out of this now pointless conversation, Sakura switched over to Kyo and Kagura's argument to see if they had made any progress.

"I'll love you until the ends of time, and even beyond then!" The girl declared, clinging to Kyo's arm as the boy tried to pull away. "I'll even love you when you're in your true form-" Suddenly, Kagura squealed in pain as Kyo pinched her leg hard. He scampered away angrily and ran outside, most likely to seek refuge on the roof.

Sakura thought over her new information. True form? She decided to look into it later. Naruto walked back into the room with two newly fixed tables, the vase, the lamp, and half of the door. He had used chakra to make the lines on the vase and lamp less visible to the naked eye.

"Wow Naruto-kun! These are just like new!" Tohru raved. Naruto smiled lazily at the group as he sat down.

"What can I say? I'm a natural at arts and crafts. I'll have your door done by tomorrow."

"Thank you, Naruto-kun." Shigure said. "These are perfect."

---

After dinner Kagura and Ayame said their goodbyes (Kyo refused to come down from the roof, so the boar left teary-eyed). When the shinobi finally decided that it was time to go as well, Sakura got an idea.

"We've eaten here so many times, I feel guilty for never having you all over." she said. "So why don't you four come for dinner on Friday night?" The Sohmas and Tohru didn't see why not, and agreed.

---

That night while lying in bed, Naruto remembered the conversation he and Hinata had after the ceremony.

_"Now are you sure this is what you want?" He asked. She just laughed._

_"For the last time, yes! And even if it wasn't, I'm not about to go and take it away from him. Look at how happy he is." Her gaze traveled to where her cousin stood smiling, Tenten hanging off his left arm. Happy family members who wanted to shake the new clan head's hand and congratulate the happy couple surrounded them. Naruto followed her gaze and smiled fondly._

_"Yeah…" He trailed off, then turned to his girlfriend. "I know what you mean."_

_"So, __**Hokage-sama**__," Hinata said teasingly. "What would you like to do now?" Naruto pretended to think for a moment, then gathered the girl in his arms with a foxy smile._

_"I think I may just have to kiss this pretty little girl right here." Hinata pretended to narrow her eyes._

_"Hanabi is too young for you." Naruto laughed and leaned in closer._

_"Did I say pretty little girl? I meant gorgeous young woman."_

_"Is that an order, Hokage-sama?" The violet-eyed girl whispered with a smile, as they got even closer. When they were just an inch away from each other her blonde boyfriend shot her another foxy smirk._

_"Might be." he breathed, and their lips connected._

Oh yeah. His teammates **definitely **didn't need to know about that.


	10. A Trip to Remember

Tuesday passed uneventfully. Mayu-sensei reminded them all that the Harvest Festival was coming up next week, but that was it.

The next thing anyone knew, it was Wednesday, the day that the three were scheduled to go to Ayame's shop. Tohru opted to come with for the fun of it, and where Tohru went, Kyo was sure to go. Yuki decided to stay home, saying that if he wanted to dress like a woman, he'd call Ritsu. None of the shinobi understood what this meant, but Kyo and Tohru assured them that they would eventually.

Walking down the street in the direction Tohru pointed, Sakura shivered. It was already October, and getting colder every day. Because it was always so warm in the Fire Country, she had only experience these conditions one other time, in Yukigakure. Even then, she had been working for most of it, and her body heat had kept her warm.

Sasuke noticed her shiver and unconsciously wrapped his arm around her petite frame. The girl 'eeped' at the contact, but didn't do anything to move it.

_'He's so warm…'_

**'Never thought the human glacier could be like this, eh?'**

_'I used to wish for it. A long time ago…'_

Sasuke, on the other hand, was being intoxicated by the wonderful smell coming from his female teammate's hair. It was strawberries and cream.

_'Did she always smell this good?'_

**'Probably. But you were too obsessed with revenge to notice.'**

_'Wait, what do you mean 'you'? Don't you mean 'we'?'_

**'Nope. The leaving Konoha thing was all your decision. I had no say.'**

_'Hn…'_

Naruto, noticing his friend's position, smiled to himself.

_'If things keep going like this, they'll be together by the end of this mission!'_

When the group finally reached Ayame's shop, the silver-haired man rushed out to meet them.

"FRIENDS! I'M OVERJOYED TO SEE YOU!" He ran hug Naruto, but the boy sidestepped the oncoming threat, causing him to collide with Sakura instead. There was a loud POOF and where Ayame once stood, a small, white garden snake sat. Instinctively, it slithered over to Sasuke. The boy knelt down and let Ayame crawl up his arm and rest on his shoulder.

"I've dealt with a lot of snakes before." He said emotionlessly when Kyo and Tohru just stared at him. Just then, a woman peeked out of the window. She saw the group, smiled, and opened the door.

"Welcome! You must be the group that Ayame-san was expecting. He came out here to greet you, but it seems he's run off." She said, looking around. Sakura stepped forward.

"Yes, Ayame-san remembered that he had to get something from the grocery store. He said he'd be right back." The woman smiled again.

"Oh well then, come on in! We'll just have to wait until he gets back to start."

As the teenagers entered the shop, Naruto and Sasuke leaned over to Kyo.

"Start what?" Naruto whispered. The orange-headed teen just shook his head.

"You don't want to know."

Sakura stared at the shop in wonder. They had everything here! From wedding dresses to lingerie to what Ayame had fondly called "Princess Gothica". The woman who had brought them in introduced herself as Mine, Ayame's assistant. Said snake had slithered towards the back of the store, where there was a storeroom and a back door.

After a POOF and the rustle of clothing, the silver haired man burst through a red velvety curtain that lead through the back room.

"I'M BACK, MY DEAR!" He yelled, and Mine rushed over.

"Oh Ayame-san, I didn't even hear you come in! Did you find what you needed at the store?"

"No, they did not have it in stock. But FEAR NOT! I will retrieve it some other time." He walked towards the front of the shop, took out a ring of keys and locked the front door. Then he flipped the 'OPEN' sign over to 'CLOSED'.

"Ayame-san, why are you closing the store?" Sakura asked naively. Something was telling her that this might not have been a good idea after all. Ayame whirled around, beaming.

"So that we may start the private fitting for you two lovely princesses!"

"Private fitting? Oh no, that's quite alright Aya-" That was as far as Sakura got before the snake man clapped his hands.

"Nonsense! MINE!" Suddenly, the calm assistant was at her employer's side, looking at the two girls like a lion would look at its prey.

"Yes sir." She said before whipping a tape measure out of her apron and measuring every inch of the kunoichi's body. Sakura was about to smack her away when she was grabbed by the back of her shirt collar and dragged into a nearby dressing room. She reached out for her friends.

"Help me!" She yelped as the curtain closed. Kyo sat down on a nearby couch, and gestured for the two boys to sit as well.

"This could take a while."

Naruto winced as he heard Sakura's screams of protest. Sasuke's eyes were wider than normal. Ayame was nowhere to be seen.

"What are they doing in there?" said blonde asked.

"Trying on clothes." Kyo said bluntly.

A few minutes later, Ayame came back from wherever he had been, and cleared his throat in front of the nervous men.

"Let me introduce to you the two lovely ladies who entered my shop today, reborn! Haruno Sakura and Honda Tohru, please come out!" The curtains separated and the boys gasped at what they saw.

Sakura had on a black tube top that covered her chest, and ribbons that criss-crossed once across her stomach and hooked to a short black leather mini skirt, which stopped about halfway down her thighs. She wore high black strappy heels, and on the back of the tube top was a pair of small black butterfly wings, the bottom parts sprouting off into two long black ribbons. A black satin choker adorned her neck, and two small black horns could be seen protruding through her pink hair.

Naruto gaped, while Sasuke stared. Suddenly, his face became the color of his favorite fruit, and he clasped his hand to his nose. Sakura swore she could see red liquid leaking through his fingers as he sprang from the couch and fled from the room.

_'Did… Did he just get a nosebleed?'_

**'No duh! And who wouldn't? You look HOT!'**

_'Thanks, but that's impossible. Uchiha Sasuke does __**not**__ get nosebleeds.'_

**'You also didn't think that Ino could ever date someone as lazy as Shikamaru. And look at them now! Steady for almost two years.'**

_'True, but this is different. This is __**Sasuke**__. I must've been imagining things.'_

**'Hun, you can deny it all you want, but that's not going to change that it happened.'**

_'It was my imagination. Nothing more.'_

**'The imagination sometimes shows us what we truly desire. Admit it. You **_**wanted**_** him to look at you that way.'**

_'…Shut up.'_

"…Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled, and the pink-haired girl snapped out of her thoughts to see that the blonde had been trying to talk to her.

"What?"

"Did you see the Teme's face? It was priceless!" he collapsed back onto the couch laughing. Sakura frowned and looked over at Tohru and Kyo, both of whom were blushing furiously.

Tohru's outfit was the exact opposite of Sakura's. While Mine had gone with something from the Princess Gothica collection for the kunoichi, she had deemed Tohru to innocent for anything like that, and decided to do an Angel-Devil theme.

The girl now wore a white silk baby doll dress that stopped right above her knees gathered underneath the bust and had two small poofy sleeves. She wore high strappy heels (that Sakura had to take five minutes to teach her how to walk in) and crystal jewelry. Two small white feathered angel wings where attached to her back, and a nearly invisible wire stretched from her back to about four inches above her head, where a feathered halo was held in place. She really did look like an angel.

Kyo was struggling to find what to say, and Tohru looked at him worriedly.

"Do I really look that bad, Kyo-kun? It's okay, you can tell me the truth." She fretted. Kyo looked mortified and shook his head.

"No, it's not that! It's just…" he trailed up, and Naruto (who had recovered from his laughing fit and was standing next to the orange headed boy) jabbed an elbow into his side. "You look really nice." Kyo said quickly, blushing and looking at the floor. Tohru smiled and laughed a little.

"Arrigatou, Kyo-kun. That really means a lot to me." This maid said, making the boy blush even harder. Sakura smiled.

_'They're meant to be together.'_

And for once, her Inner didn't argue with her.

Meanwhile, Sasuke sat in the men's bathroom that Ayame had pointed out, stuffing toilet paper up his nose to stop the bleeding.

_'Well, this is humiliating.'_

**'But well worth it. Did you see Sakura in that outfit? I mean YAHOO!'**

_'Why does she make me feel like this now? It never happened before.'_

**'Well, last time you were with her for a long period of time, you were 12, and didn't have as many of these RAGING hormones. And you've never been this close to her personally.'**

_'How am I close to her personally?'_

**'You're learning more about her on the level of a friend, rather than on the level of a teammate. You know that her favorite food is her mother's homemade dango, she has a cousin who is on Kiba's geninn team, and when she was little she was afraid of the dark.'**

_'So how does that explain these reoccurring feelings I get when I'm around her?'_

**'You like learning about her. You want to know more about who she is, what she likes, what she dislikes, and most importantly, **_**who**_** she likes.'**

_'Hn… That says nothing.'_

**'Oh, don't even play that game with me. I'm You, and I'm getting all these feelings too. Only they're coming at me full force, and I can interpret them better.'**

_'And…?'_

**'You're gonna need to figure that out for yourself.'**

Sasuke was startled when the door suddenly opened. He ripped the toilet paper out of his now dry nose and whirled around to be face to face with Ayame.

"Oh, it's just you." he sighed. The snake-man beamed.

"So you liked my clothing! Oh, I'm ever so glad!" Sasuke huffed and faced the mirror, silently checking his face for any sign of blood. Behind him, Ayame's beam became a sly smile and his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Don't put yourself in denial, Sasuke-san." The blunette perked up a little.

"About what?"

"About her."

"About who? Sakura?" The silver haired man nodded and Sasuke scowled at his reflection. "She's just a friend."

"**Just** a friend? I don't think so. You like her."

"Of course I like her. I've known her since I was a kid. You have to like people you've known since then."

"Oh really? Kyo and Yuki's hate for each other goes back just as far, and do they look like best friends?"

"This is different."

"How so?"

"She's… she's… she's _Sakura_, for Kami's sake!" Sasuke was now getting slightly frustrated (although he hid it well), and Ayame could tell that he was trying to convince himself that he didn't like his pink-haired friend as much as he was trying to convince the snake.

"This whole thing is rather shady." The silver-haired man continued, dropping the subject. "Akito randomly lets three children with no connection to us whatsoever know our secret, when so many others have been punished for it."

"And your point is?" Sasuke asked, now annoyed with the other man.

"It's just strange, that's all."

"Whatever." Sasuke said as he started to walk out of the bathroom.

"I will find out what you and your friends are hiding, Sasuke-san." Ayame said, his eyes narrowed, and a cold smile dominating his features. This was definitely not the Ayame they had been dealing with before. This man before him was a completely different person from the bumbling, dramatic idiot they had met at Shigure's.

Sasuke turned around and stared at Ayame. Not glared, just stared. A smirk played across his face.

"I don't know what you mean, Ayame-san. My friends and I have nothing to hide." And he was gone.

After meeting Naruto, Kyo, Tohru and Sakura back in the front of the shop, the group left. As they walked from the shop, Sasuke turned his head slightly to look back. Ayame was watching them, the same look he had on in the bathroom plastered onto his face. He was staring right at Sasuke. Said boy smirked one more time before turning his head back to face his friends.

"What's wrong, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, pretending like the whole outfit thing didn't happen.

"Nothing." Which meant 'I'll tell you about it later' to the shinobi.

Back at the apartment, Sasuke recounted his talk with Ayame (excluding the whole first part about Sakura) to his friends.

"Do you think he knows?" Sakura asked.

"No, but I think he's caught onto the fact that something's up. We still need to get closer to all the Sohmas, not just Tohru, Yuki and Kyo. That will better our chances of being near them if Akatsuki decides to attack." The blunette suggested.

"That's a good idea. But Sakura-chan, what are we going to feed the Sohmas when they come over on Friday? I don't think we have that much instant ramen left-" Sakura bopped Naruto on the head.

"Baka, you think we're going to serve them instant ramen? I'll cook something, and we'll have a nice visit. But you two need to ninja-proof your room in case one of them stumbles in there. I'll do the same to mine."

"Arrigatou, _Mom._" The blonde groaned. Sakura grinned and pinched his cheek.

"You're welcome _honey_." Sasuke inwardly smiled at his teammate's antics. Getting up, he walked over and opened up the fridge. He sweatdropped when he found that it was almost completely empty.

"Sakura." he called, and she looked up at him cutely. "You need to go shopping at some point, if you're going to cook for them."

Suddenly Sakura's cute expression twisted into a sly smirk.

"Of course, Sasuke-kun. Not only do we need food, but we need other things too."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"I need a new dress of course. Actually, I need two; one for the dinner and one for the Harvest Festival next week."

"Okay… and what does that have to do with us?" Sasuke asked, slightly afraid of the answer. Sakura's smirk got wider.

"Usually Ino would go with me to give advice and such, but since she's not here…" Naruto gulped.

"Uh oh." Sasuke shook his head.

"No freaking way are we going _shopping_ with you. Much less _dress_ shopping."

"Well that's too bad." Sakura said, strolling towards her bedroom. "Because that wasn't a request. That instant ramen won't last forever, and I know for a fact that Sasuke can't cook for his life." She shut the door.

Both boy's eyes widened and they looked at each other. She was seriously threatening them with starvation? The blonde threw himself at the pink-haired girl's door.

"ALRIGHT WE'LL DO IT!!!! JUST LET US EAT!!!!!!!!!" He screamed, and fell face first to the floor when the door swung open. Sakura already had her shoes and coat on, and put her hair into two low pigtails. She smiled brightly.

"Let's go!"

"You want to go _now?_" Sasuke asked.

"No time like the present!" Sakura giggled and headed towards the door. The two boys looked at each other before throwing on their shoes and rushing to catch up with her.

Both boys were about to learn something very important about their female teammate that Kakashi could've never taught them. Sakura may have been an intelligent, strong, forceful, capable kunoichi, but she was still very much a woman. A woman who was going to teach the two of them something they would use for the rest of their lives. It was a one-sentence lesson.

Hell hath no fury like a woman shopping.

XXXXX

Hi guys. I know this chapter is later than expected, but I'm really busy right now, and trying to work through my rut with this story. I'll be posting some other things to try to get my creative juices flowing again, so bare with me, okay? Thanks guys! :D


	11. Reconnaissance

The last time Sasuke had been out shopping with a girl was years ago, when his mother had taken him to get a new outfit for Itachi's tenth birthday. He had only been five, but the experience would live on in his memory forever. Mikoto had dragged him all around the shopping district of Konoha, going in, trying things on, making HIM try things on, deciding, doubting, rethinking, planning future diets that would never happen- this was the side of a woman that the young Uchiha had never hoped to see again.

But much to his dismay, Sakura pulled them along to the nearest mall (which happened to be a good half an hour walk away from their apartment) and the chaos began. He and Naruto were dragged through six different department stores, three shoe stores, an old fashioned hat shop, and were now sitting in a musty vintage shop in the far south corner of the ground floor.

"Hey Teme, check me out!" Naruto called, and Sasuke lazily looked over to see his best friend wearing a large, floppy purple hat with a gigantic red feather sticking out the top. "Don't I look stunning? I'm gonna buy seven of these things- one for every day of the week!"

"Great, just what we need. Another shopaholic on this team." Sasuke muttered, then instantly regretted it when he saw the sad smile appear on the blonde's face.

"Aw c'mon Sasuke- you know I can't buy most things at home. Aren't I allowed to pretend once in a while?"

Sasuke wasn't exactly sure why Naruto was acting like this. Usually, the blonde would just yell some stupid retort back at him with a "Teme!" stuck to the end of it. But lately he had just given Sasuke a sad smile (or occasionally the kicked-puppy look, which made Sasuke feel worse. No one, no matter how strong, was immune to that look when it came from Naruto) and turned away.

"I think you should buy a matching set for Hinata." Sasuke sighed, changing his answer in an attempt to sound encouraging. The blonde recognized this attempt, (no matter how feeble) and smiled gratefully before turning back to the mirror and doing some stupid poses with the hat on. His mask was back up, and to an outsider, it would have never seemed as if anything was wrong.

A hand came upon Sasuke's shoulder, and he whirled around to see Sakura standing there.

"What do you think?" she asked. "Do you like it? I was thinking about this one for dinner on Friday."

Sasuke couldn't speak, as he was discreetly trying to fight a nosebleed. Sakura was wearing a strapless little black dress that stopped mid thigh, showing off her creamy legs, and a thin, dark green ribbon belt right underneath her bust. But no, that wasn't all. As she twirled around, Sasuke caught sight of a slit on the bottom right side of the dress that went all the way up to just under her panty line, leaving just enough space for him to imagine…

"It's fine." He said, and Sakura frowned.

"Are you alright, Sasuke-kun? You look sick." She put her hand on his forehead, her cool skin feeling amazing against his overheated flesh. "You feel a little warm. Are you getting a fever?" He didn't answer. "I only have one more outfit to try on, then we'll go home and I'll make you some tomato soup, okay?"

She took her hand off his forehead and walked back into the dressing room, hips unconsciously swaying slightly. His eyes followed them until the door swung shut, then shook his head.

_'Bad thoughts Sasuke, bad thoughts…'_

**'Oooo, Sasuke, you hentai, you!'**

_'If you're me, then I have a question to ask you.'_

**'Shoot.'**

_'Why did all the heat I felt in my face suddenly revert to my stomach when she was fretting over me? It was… strange.'_

**'Sasuke, you silly boy. What other person in your life fretted over whether you were sick or not?'**

_'…Okaa-san…'_

**'Exactly. Only two women in a man's life are allowed to baby him like that- his mother and his girlfriend. You've already had one, and now I think you've found the other.'**

_'Who made that up?'_

**'Your heart did, Sasuke. Your heart did. And if this keeps up, then there's hope for you yet.'**

"…-suke?" the stoic boy snapped back to reality when he realized that Sakura was talking to him.

"What?" he asked.

"I asked you what you thought of this for the Fall Harvest Festival next week."

For the second time that day, Sasuke was rendered speechless. But this time, it wasn't from an excessive amount of blood rushing to his face.

Sakura looked exquisite in the kimono she was wearing. It was a shining scarlet red, with golden dragons stitched all over it. The obi she wore was a shimmering gold, with a red dragon stitched on it to make it seem like the creature was winding around her waist. Sasuke couldn't help but feel jealous of it.

"Beautiful." he said under his breath without realizing it. Sakura heard this and blushed.

"Thanks. I think I'll keep it." She flashed him a dazzling smile before retreating to the dressing room to change back into her regular clothes. Sasuke smiled a little to himself as he watched her go.

_'Maybe shopping isn't so bad after all…'_

When Sakura was done, Sasuke offered to pay for the outfits. Sakura blushed and nodded her thanks, and Naruto sent him a sly grin, which he tried to ignore.

"So… you payin' for her already?"

"I'm just doing a friend a favor, dobe."

"Psh, a _friend_. Riiiiight. We're _friends _and you don't buy me stuff."

"All you ever want is ramen."

"That's all I'll ever need, teme! Well, besides Hinata-chan. And being the Hokage. And you guys, I guess. And…"

Sasuke tuned him out as the blonde lost track of the conversation and drawled on and on about what he liked about his life.

About halfway through their walk back to the apartment, Naruto collapsed from pure exhaustion.

"For Kami's sake, Dobe!" Sasuke groaned, picking up his best friend off the ground and lifted him up to carry him in a piggy-back. The blonde snored loudly, and Sakura stifled a giggle.

"Hey Sasuke?" She asked a few minutes later, a large smile on her face.

"Hn?"

"I've been thinking about what Ayame-san said, and… well, maybe we've been too easy to read."

"I know what you mean." He let out a small (somewhat creepy-looking, for lack of practice) smile for appearance sake. It wouldn't do for an enemy to see them walking down the street in deep discussion- even a normal person would know something was up. "I guess having normal people around is stranger for them than we suspected."

"I don't know if I'd call us normal." Sakura giggled. "But I agree. What do we do if they figure out we're not just regular teenagers?"

"What are they gonna do- try to kill us?" Sasuke rolled his eyes. "The head of their family hired us. They don't have a say in it."

"From how they talk about it, I don't think they have much of a say in anything." The medic observed. "I think we should look more into this Akito- something tells me that there's more to the Sohma's story than we've been told."

Sasuke let out a real smirk.

"What did you have in mind?"

XXXXX

And that is how Sasuke and Sakura ended up sneaking into the Sohma family main house in the middle of a cool October night. The two traveled like the wind, dressed in their ANBU uniforms, making sure they were not seen or heard.

_'I'll wait by this window- I'm pretty sure it's Akito-san's.' _Sakura communicated through the ANBU sign language. Sasuke nodded.

_'I'll work my way around the house, and see if there's anything I can find.' _The blunette then disappeared into the trees. Sakura sighed inaudibly and positioned herself on the roof above the window- near enough that she could hear everything that occurred in the room below her, but far enough that she could slip out of view if someone got suspicious and stuck their head out the window- and settled down to wait.

She could feel the chakra of someone in the room- Akito, she presumed, was still awake. But again- she felt something familiar, something she couldn't quite put her finger on...

Her attention was diverted when she heard the screen door to the room slide open.

"Akito." It was a man's voice- one she hadn't heard before.

"Kureno, where have you been?" The tone was angry, but Sakura notice that the head's voice was maybe an octave higher than it had been during their previous visit.

"I went to get that pain medication from Hatori."

"I don't need medication."

"Hatori is your doctor, and he says you need it."

"I don't care!" There was shuffling, and Akito's head appeared at the window.

"He just wants to make sure that you're healthy."

"Why should he care?" The head laughed somewhat insanely. "He's not my father."

There was an awkward silence for a few moments before something hit the ground (the bag, most likely) and the door slid open again.

"I'll be next door if you need me." Kureno said and the door closed. Akito ignored it and reached a pale, elegant hand out into the night.

Sakura stared at the hand, eyes wide behind her mask. The answer was on the tip of her tongue-

Suddenly, Akito sighed a long, deep, drawn-out, melancholy sigh.

And the light went on in Sakura's head.

XXXXX

Meanwhile, Sasuke was slinking through the dark outer hallways of the main house, looking for anything suspicious. He was debating whether or not to actually enter the building when footsteps alerted him to someone else's presence. Whispering a jutsu, he scaled the wall and hung from the ceiling.

The person walking beneath him was a female- it didn't take the sharingan to tell, because she was _stunning_. She was tall, with long dark hair and an incredibly shaped body that was hidden under dark clothes.

_'Well that's a new face.'_ He thought to himself as the girl walked by without noticing anything out of the ordinary and turned the corner. _'But what is she doing out this late at night?'_ He was about to let himself down when a nearby door opened and a familiar white-and-black head peeked out.

"Rin?" Haru's voice sounded different- there was almost a desperate tone to it. When he realized the hallway was empty, he sighed a little and retreated back into the room.

_'So that's the connection.' _Sasuke silently nodded to himself and dropped to the floor again.

Suddenly, the door next to him shot open, and Sasuke quickly smashed himself behind a small pillar that barely covered his figure. From what glances he had seen of her, the person who opened the door was a beautiful older woman with long dark hair and an expression of twisted contentment.

"I know you're out there." She spoke quietly, but Sasuke didn't dare move. "I know why you've come here. But you'll never take me alive- not as long as that _thing_ is still around! I'll outlast it- I'LL SHOW YOU ALL!" She finished, cackling wildly.

"Ren-san!" Voices arose, and the house suddenly came alive. Lights flickered on in nearby bedrooms and doors slid open. When Sasuke turned to take a peak at the woman, she was being restrained by several servants who were trying to push her back into the room behind her.

_'Time to go.' _The last Uchiha thought as he scaled the pillar and ascended to the roof in hopes of finding Sakura and planning their next movements with this new information.

XXXXX

Meanwhile, in a motel a few miles away…

"Danna?"

"What?"

"You left your underwear on the bathroom floor again."

XXXXX

Hi everyone- sorry this chapter was so short, but I wanted to get through it so as to get to the next chapter, which will explain a few things. This is also the first appearance of everyone's favorite artistic bad guys. :D So it just occurred to me that we recently passed the two year mark for this story, which I started in 2007. I can't tell you how much of a loser I am because it's not even halfway done yet. I just wanted to tell you guys that I'm so sorry, and I'm gonna try really hard to update more than I do now. High school is hell- I'm sure most of you know that. I thank you guys so much for sticking with me through all this insanity.

The only other thing I wanted to ask is that you guys (if you have some free time) check out my other story, Imbroglio- it's a Naruto/Fullmetal Alchemist crossover focusing on Sakura and Ino (no, not like that.) Check it out and leave me a review to tell me what you think. :D

Anyway, to MissSasukeUchiha- I'd love to help you upload things, but you need to get a real account first.

Review, and Happy Thanksgiving to the Americans out there! :D


	12. Dinner Date

The next morning it was if nothing had happened. Sasuke and Sakura had retreated back to their apartment in silence, both lost in thought over the waves of new information. When they got there, Naruto was still asleep- but the blonde was not Hokage-to-be for nothing. He knew something had happened last night.

He was just a little off about what exactly it was.

"Sasuke and Sakura sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I- ITAI SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto clutched his head in pain and stuck his tongue out at his rosette teammate.

"Way to be mature, Naruto." Sakura rolled her eyes and grabbed her bookbag off the couch.

"What? It's not my fault that you two have the hots for each other." The blonde gave them a shit-eating grin, and was in no way oblivious to the slight blushes that appeared on both teenagers' cheeks.

"Shut up Dobe." Sasuke turned away and noticed the clock read 7:20. "Great. Now thanks to your antics, we're gonna be late."

"Well then let's go!" Sakura ran out the door, and Sasuke jogged forward to catch up with her.

"Come on Dobe!" He called behind him.

"I'll be right there!" Naruto jokingly called back. Once he was sure they were out of sight, his grin faded and he turned around and walked back into the kitchen. There it hung on the wall, mocking him with it's red markings and peaceful pictures of autumn leaves on a shrine.

"A shrine to hell." He muttered, walking forward and taking a red marker off the nearby counter. Naruto took his time drawing a large X through the day's date before capping the marker and staring at it.

_'Eight days.'_ He thought with a scowl.

"NARUTO COME ON!" Sakura yelled, making the blonde snap back to the present.

"Uh, COMING SAKURA-CHAN!" He grabbed his things and sped out the door.

The resulting wind made the pages of the calendar flutter lightly. When they settled, the last of the ink dried on the newest marking on the page. A large red X that settled on the date-

_October 2._

XXXXX

A day later, the three shinobi cleaned their entire apartment and hid all their ninja gear so well that Naruto feared that he wouldn't be able to find his things after their guests left.

Sakura had made them dress nicely for the dinner- while she wore the black dress from the mall, Naruto had on a white collared shirt with dark jeans, and Sasuke wore a black collared shirt and black slacks.

When the buzzer for the door to their apartment building, well, buzzed, at six o'clock, Sakura was in the kitchen, just adding the garnish onto a plate of appetizers.

"That must be them. Naruto, go let them in."

The blonde did just that, and a few moments later, a knock was heard at the door. Sakura stepped out of the kitchen, slapped Naruto's hands away from the plate of small sushi rolls she had prepared, and walked over to open it.

"Sakura-chan!"

"Hi Tohru-chan." The rosette smiled as Tohru gave her a big hug. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Kyo and Yuki watch the hug for a moment too long before turning away. The orange-headed teen walked passed her into the apartment, only to be accosted by a starving Naruto.

"Sakura-chan, can we eat now?" The blonde soon-to-be-Hokage whined, and Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Hai, Naruto- just let me get the food from the kitchen."

"No need- I got it!" He sped away and returned a moment later with a plate of sushi and a full mouth.

"Kami, Naruto- save some for the guests!" Sakura sighed loudly, making Tohru giggle slightly, and Sasuke smirked at his teammate from his place on the arm of the couch.

Sakura took Tohru into the kitchen to help finish getting the food ready (no matter how much the rosette insisted that Tohru should be visiting with people, the brunette just wouldn't hear it, and insisted that she help), leaving all the boys alone together.

Naruto plopped down on the couch that Sasuke was perched on, but the Uchiha didn't even flinch. Yuki took a seat on the other couch, while Kyo sat on the floor by the coffee table- what he deemed as a reasonable distance between himself and his pale cousin.

"You have a very nice apartment, Naruto-san, Sasuke-san." Yuki complimented politely, and the ninja nodded their thanks. "Does anyone else live with you?"

"Nope- it's just me, Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme." The blonde cocked his head to the side. "Why?"

"Oh, no reason, it's just," there was a strange expression on Yuki's face, and Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly. "If you don't mind me asking, who's paying for this place?"

"My grandma." Naruto said smoothly, immediately coming to the same conclusion that Sasuke had.

"What about your parents?" Kyo asked bluntly. Sasuke sent a calculated, but fierce look in his direction.

"What about yours?" That seemed to shut the temperamental teen up rather quickly. It was quiet for a few moments before Naruto and Yuki tried to work damage control, and started up a harmless conversation about martial arts. It really was something to watch them dance around each other with such straight faces- both were extremely skilled at the ups and downs of conversation (Naruto from his training, and Yuki from years of avoiding questions concerning his family) but the violet-eyed teen was clearly on the offensive, and was in no way about to get passed Naruto's high defenses.

"I'm going to check on Sakura." Sasuke said suddenly, wanting to make his teammate aware of the new situation before she came back in. Naruto shot him a grin that said he could handle the two Sohmas alone, and the Uchiha got up off the couch and walked towards the door.

"I'll come too." Sasuke froze for a minute and turned around to stare at Kyo, who was getting up off the floor. The orange-headed boy had been unnaturally quiet since the topic of parents had been brought up (by himself, none the less), and the prodigal Uchiha was slightly irked that he would pick now of all times to break that.

**'He's going to protect Tohru.'**

The thought was gone as quickly as it had come, but it made more sense than anything else Sasuke could have come up with in that moment.

_'He might be in on this little thing,' _His gaze slid over to where Naruto and Yuki were still speaking quietly, then back to the approaching teen. _'But Kyo's agenda is slightly different from his cousin's, whether he realizes it or not. Basic reasoning would have told him to stay and try to assist in overpowering Naruto for information- even if we were here to hurt them, we would never do anything so open as to injure Honda-san while they are our guests.'_

**'But his instincts kicked in.'**

_'Exactly. He doesn't trust us- that much is obvious. And he cares enough for Honda-san to defy what others want him to do.'_

Sasuke smirked lightly and turned around to walk into the kitchen, Kyo following him.

_'I could learn to respect that.'_

XXXXX

Meanwhile, Sakura was in the kitchen appreciating two things about Tohru. The first was that she was undeniably handy in the kitchen. The meal that the rosette had cooked had burned slightly in the high heat of the oven. She had been more embarrassed then anything- she was a top _ANBU_ for crying out loud! But Tohru showed her how to simply scrape off the burnt parts and season the raw parts so that it would all taste the same.

The second thing was Tohru's oblivious nature. In any normal situation, Sakura would have been quick to admonish the girl on how easily she spoke of things, and how unsafe the world was- but this wasn't any normal situation. So as it was, Sakura busied herself with setting plates out and divvying up the dinner while she asked Tohru questions that would make any normal person feel slightly suspicious.

Once again, _normal _being the operative word.

"So Tohru-chan, who are the other cursed Sohmas?" Sakura asked casually, not making eye contact to make the question seem less intense. Tohru was quiet for a minute, and the rosette could tell that she was weighing whether or not to answer.

"Well… since Akito-san says it's okay…" she said slowly. "You know about Yuki-kun and Kyo-kun, and then there's Hatsuharu-kun, Momiji-kun and Kagura-chan, and of course Shigure-san, Ayame-san and Hatori-san… oh, and Hiro-kun and Kisa-chan… then there's just Ritsu-san, Rin-san and Kureno-san."

Sakura gave her a calculating look.

"You're not friends with these people?"

"No, no it's nothing like that!" Tohru said, waving her hands in front of her as her frantically. "Ritsu-san- he's the monkey- is really nice to me, and he looks really beautiful in women's clothing, no matter what he might think…"

_'What?'_

"It's just that… Rin-san and Kureno-san are very private people." Tohru's eyes started to tear up. "And… and their stories are… are just s-so sad!"

A prickle of guilt rose in the back of Sakura's head as tears started to pour slowly down the brunette's face. With a sigh, she set down the plate she had been holding and moved to embrace the crying girl.

"Shhh, it's okay Tohru-chan. We don't have to talk about it if it makes you uncomfortable." She soothed, and soon the tears slowed to occasional hiccups as Tohru got a hold of herself.

Unfortunately, Sasuke chose that exact moment to enter the kitchen. Seeing the crying Tohru, and being aware of the orange-headed boy entering the kitchen behind him, the Uchiha barely had time to think.

_'Honda-san is crying. Kyo won't even ask questions- he'll just see that she's upset and jump to conclusions. Then he'll go running back to Yuki and Ayame and tell them we were torturing her- SHIT.'_

So Sasuke did what he felt was necessary.

Just as Kyo began to cross the threshold of the kitchen, Sasuke stuck out his foot. The temperamental teen stumbled and began to fall…

… right into a very startled Tohru.

XXXXX

"Whoops." Sasuke said in a monotone, while the orange cat on the ground hissed angrily at him. Tohru was having a panic attack and Sakura just raised her eyebrows at her male teammate. He blinked three times, meaning they had to talk. She rolled her eyes and smiled at the still-freaking-out brunette.

"Tohru, the bathroom is down the hall- why don't you take Kyo and his clothes down there so he can change?" The girl quickly nodded and scooped up Kyo- who was protesting half-heartedly- before proceeding to dash down the hall.

Sakura moved some dishes aside and hopped up to sit on the counter. She crossed her ankles in a very ladylike manner and Sasuke couldn't help but let his gaze wander up from her black high heels- up those creamy white legs to where that dangerously short dress came to a halt.

"Eyes up here, Sasuke." The rosette's voice jolted him out of his hormone-induced stupor, and his eyes met hers. He could feel the heat rising to his face- worse then all those damned nose bleeds because _she _had called him out on it. But if she noticed it, she didn't say anything. In fact, he could easily see a twin blush on her pale face, and an amused twinkle in her eye.

"Hn." He managed to get out, keeping eye contact.

"Wonderful." She clapped her hands together. "Now was there a reason for that little display, or are we just confirming what we already know?"

"Ayame has them information-digging." Sasuke leaned in close and kept it quiet. "They're not very good at it- Naruto's handling Yuki on his own- but they're suspicious enough as it is."

"I see." Sakura said with a small frown. "I should have seen this coming. We'll let Naruto make up the back story as he sees fit- he knows more about keeping secrets then either of us."

Sasuke winced a little, trying not to think about all the years his best friend had spent feeling alone and unloved because of a certain secret.

_'But… why do I feel like I'm forgetting something?'_

"SASUKE!" Sakura yelled, and the blunette shook his head and tried to focus on her worried expression. "Are you sure you're okay? You've been spacing out a lot lately…" She bit her lip nervously, and Sasuke was momentarily entranced by how cute she looked. The rosette looked up at him with wide green eyes as he leaned closer, placing both hands on either side of her on the counter.

"Sasuke… what are you doing?" She asked, in a breath that was close to a whisper- but there was something else to it. An edge. Blinking in confusion, the Uchiha stepped backwards as Sakura gracefully slid off the counter and smoothed out the wrinkles in her dress. Avoiding his gaze, she picked up a tray of appetizers and walked towards the living room. When she reached the doorframe, she stopped.

"Grab the other tray, will you?" She turned her head- not all the way around- but just far enough for Sasuke to see the odd look on her face. It was a combination of sadness, wistfulness and… regret?

But before he could look any further into it, she was gone.

So, thoughts still slightly fuzzy, he picked up the tray and followed her.

XXXXX

Bet no one saw that coming.

Long time no see, everyone :D Sorry this update took so long- life is not giving me any breaks lately, and it took me a long time to decide what I wanted from this chapter. Now I have a set idea on certain things I want to happen, so the next chapter should be out sooner. By the way, it has just occurred to me that I've never put a disclaimer on this story. I hope you guys aren't insinuating that I own any of this- because except for the plot ideas, I don't :D Reviews are good- motivationally, anyway- and send me a shout out if you're going to AnimeNEXT this year. I'll be there working at my best friend's table. :D


	13. An Unexpected Twist

Sakura and Sasuke brought the food into the dining room area just off the living room and called Naruto and Yuki in. The blonde and the rat both entered smiling, though Naruto's was much larger and had a triumphant smirk hidden in it. Moments later, they were joined by a blushing Tohru and Kyo, who said nothing, but sat down next to each other. Sakura looked at them with a small smile- one that Sasuke did not fail to catch.

His mind began to whir as he flashed back to what had happened only moments ago in the kitchen.

_'No.'_ He told himself. _'This is not the time.'_

The Uchiha decided to focus on the present, and pushed the strange kitchen experience to the back of his mind. He tuned into the tense conversation that was happening between the two groups.

"- but I'm sure we could have found a better one if we had gotten a little bit more time to look." Naruto was saying with a casual shrug. Sasuke gathered that he must be talking about their apartment.

"No, I think it's darling!" Tohru said with a smile, and Sakura smiled right back at her.

"So what brought you three to our town anyway?" Yuki asked off-handedly. "I don't think you've ever told us."

"Well you see," Naruto took a bite of his meal and swallowed. "My grandmother inherited all of this money and land when her father died, and she, among others, raised me. Sakura and Sasuke lived nearby, so we went to school together and became close friends. Then this year Baa-chan decided to send me out to see other parts of Japan to gain 'life experience'. I asked if I could bring Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme with me, and here we are." The blonde smiled disarmingly.

Okay, so it was pretty generic and didn't answer very much, but it wasn't exactly lies either. It was always easier for a shinobi to simply alter the truth instead of making something up completely- especially when on a mission that didn't include others who would be able to figure out the truth through background information. This helped the shinobi adapt to the fake situation faster, as well as make their reactions more natural.

Yuki seemed to notice this, but chose to remain silent. Kyo noticed something off with Yuki, and the tension in the room escalated. The group chatted about random things for a few moments, until Sakura caught a look pass between the two Sohma cousins.

_'They don't believe us.' _She thought. _'Something's preventing them from trusting us.' _

"So Yuki, did you ever go visit Haru like you were going to?" Naruto asked.

"No, actually. The main house has been on lockdown since last night."

"What?" The three shinobi tensed, and Sakura and Sasuke resisted the urge to glance at each other. Had their presence caused this?

"Someone snuck in and tried to attack Akito-san. Luckily, Akito wasn't in his room- he had gone to Hatori for a late night emergency doctor's appointment. But Kureno was still in the room waiting for him to come back, so the attacker, thinking he was Akito, got him instead." Yuki related in a monotone, refusing to look any of the shinobi in the eye.

"Is he…?" Naruto prompted.

"No- he was lucky enough that some people heard a ruckus from Akito's room, and the attacker fled before he could finish him off. But he's sustained serious injuries, and is in the hospital." The rat finally looked up, barely concealed anger in his eyes. "Would any of you happen to anything about the situation?"

"What?" Naruto pulled a bamboozled expression onto his face just in time.

"We know you're hiding something!" Kyo stood up and slammed his hands down on the table, causing Tohru to squeak. "So quit running around and tell us what the hell is going on!"

Suddenly, Sakura flipped the table.

Glasses, plates and silverware flew towards the Sohmas. Kyo jumped in front of Tohru so as to shield her from the onslaught of food.

"Sakura, what are you doing!" Naruto yelled frantically.

"What I should have done a long time ago!" The rosette answered, pulling a kunai out of a thigh holster that had been hidden beneath her dress. She threw it with deadly accuracy, and Naruto was barely able to dodge in time.

"Have you gone nuts?" The blonde yelled frantically, tearing at his hair- only to be stopped when another kunai came flying in his direction. The teen yelped and jumped to relative safety behind the sideways table, where the Sohmas and Tohru hid.

"Sakura, stop!" Sasuke yelled at the crazed medic nin, trying to get close enough to grab her.

"No! I'm gonna finish what I came here to do!" The rosette screeched, slashing a defenseless Sasuke across the chest with a mad look in her eye. Sasuke stumbled back and fell to the ground, blood already seeping through his nice shirt. With the Uchiha down, Sakura turned her attention hungrily to the group huddled behind the table.

"Oh no you don't!" Suddenly, she felt her arms thrust behind her and lock in place by a set of warm hands. Tohru watched from behind the table with fear in her eyes as Kyo attempted to hold back the bloodstained, crazed kunoichi.

Unfortunately for Kyo, he was still cursed, and all Sakura had to do was lean her weight backwards into his chest for a loud POP to occur and the weight on her hands to dissipate. She then turned around to kick the orange cat into the nearby table, rendering him unconscious. Immediately moving towards the table, she wasted no time in disposing of Yuki in a similar way- a well placed fall and pressure point helped that. The only two victims left had scrambled to their feet and backed away, Naruto placing himself between the crazed Sakura and hysterical Tohru.

"I don't know what's happening, but you don't want to do this, Sakura!" Naruto yelled, putting up his fists like a boxer. His fellow nin merely smirked at him, running her tongue along her bottom lip to lick some of the blood off. Holding up two kunai (which she seemingly pulled out of nowhere), she chuckled slightly as she took lazy steps forward.

"You're done for."

Suddenly, a piercing ring cut through the air. Sakura turned to the nearby window and cursed to herself before turning her attention back to the two teens before her.

"This isn't over." She hissed menacingly, before turning around and running towards the window. She crossed her arms with the two kunai in hand and jumped through the glass, shattering it upon contact, before disappearing into the night.

XXXXX

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, a familiar bouncy blonde was walking home from yet another evening spent at his father's office building to secretly view his beloved mother and sister.

_'Momo-chan sure is getting big!' _He thought happily, looking to the clouded sky as he shoved his hands in his pockets. _'I wonder if Mama has as much fun clothes shopping for her as I do for myself?'_

Lost in his thoughts, the young blonde didn't take notice of the man walking towards him until they impacted. Momiji went flying backwards to the ground, wincing as he hit the cold concrete sidewalk.

"Ah, daijoubu, yeah?" A smooth baritone asked, and Momiji rubbed his head once before looking up to see a man in a long coat and a hood sticking out a hand. He smiled and reached up to take it, before seeing something flicker near it. Was that… a _tongue?_

"Deidara." A quiet voice spoke up, and the young rabbit tried to scurry away from the figure he hadn't even seen approach. The first figure turned, and Momiji caught a flash of blonde hair.

"Hai, Danna?"

"You're an idiot." The second figure turned his attention to the boy on the ground. "Well, looks like we've caught a little rabbit."

"Wha…?" Momiji breathed, eyes widening in fear. The two cloaked men seemed to loom over him, and suddenly, the world went black.

XXXXX

"Did you acquire one of the cursed ones?" The crackling voice coming from Sasori's ring asked.

"Hai, Pein-sama- we got the little rabbit gaki, yeah." Deidara reported.

"Except Deidara almost gave us away completely." His partner rolled his eyes next to him.

"What? What did I do, yeah?"

"You stuck your hand out to the kid to help him up off the ground."

"So what?"

"Normal people don't normally have _mouths _on their palms."

"Hey, I happen to like my hands, yeah! They make my art EXPLOSIVE!"

"SILENCE!" Pein's voice commanded, and the dysfunctional duo shut up. "If this plan is going to work then there can be NOTHING that gives you away, do you understand? Deidara, your hands are a defining factor- cover them with something next time."

"But I hate gloves!" The blonde whined. "They're constricting, and my hands can't breathe, then, yeah!"

"… are you questioning me?" The blonde shivered at his superior's tone, and didn't answer. "That's what I thought. Now finish the job, otherwise I'll send Itachi and Kisame to take over."

"Hai, Pein-sama." Sasori and Deidara said in unison. There was a moment of crackling on the other end of the communicator placed in the Akatsuki ring, before the transmission was cut off.

XXXXX

Betcha didn't see that coming.

I originally planned for this chapter to go in a completely different direction, but after a few months of writer's block and finding myself bored with the material, I decided to do something so unexpected that even _I _didn't know it was happening. I'll be moving this fic to the Naruto and Fruit's Basket crossover section, because it's lingered in the Naruto section for long enough.

Please see my profile for information on my long absence from FF, as well as plans for upcoming plans and projects.


	14. Aftermath

When Yuki finally drifted into consciousness, it didn't take him long to figure out that he was laying in his bed at Shigure's house.

A few things kept him from immediately jumping up and rushing down the stairs to find Tohru and yes, even that stupid cat- one of which was a massive headache that seemed to dispel any possibility of movement. He lay there for a moment, realizing that the pain was not just coming from his head. His entire body ached, like he had slept at an awkward angle for days and days.

So he contented himself to thinking.

Yuki only had vague memories of what happened that night at the exchange student's house. What had begun as a nice dinner with friends had quickly become a battle of wits- and it had all gone downhill from there.

It had been Ayame who had approached him about their new friends first. Late Thursday night, the snake had showed up at Shigure's door, just as Yuki was preparing for bed. Initially he was resistant to his brother's request to see him, but when he finally gave in, he immediately knew something was off.

_Yuki walked into the living room in his pajamas to see Ayame and Shigure sitting at the kotatsu, talking quietly. His brother broke the conversation, looked up at him and gave him a small smile._

_"Ah, Yuki, come sit."_

_The words were simple and gentle, but the tone left no room for argument. As Yuki came and sat across from the snake, Shigure stood up and began to leave the room._

_"You're not staying?" Yuki asked. Shigure shook his head slowly._

_"Ayame has asked that you two speak to each other alone. I believe it's a private matter." But his eyes spoke volumes- whatever Yuki's brother was here to discuss, the dog already knew._

_As soon as Shigure left, Yuki was forced to look across the table, and was surprised to see that Ayame's attention was not focused on him, but on stirring the ice in the glass of water that sat in front of him. The rat took this opportunity to really look at his brother. His eyes were narrowed, and his brow furrowed in deep thought. A slight frown played on his normally sunny features._

_"Is something wrong, Ayame?" If it was something that made his brother act this out of character, then Yuki knew it had to be big. Ayame stayed silent for another few moments, and didn't look up at him when he finally did speak._

_"Kureno is in the hospital. Someone broke into the main house."_

_"What? Why? Was it Akito?" Yuki's mind was racing- who would attack the normally pacified rooster?_

_"No, but we assume that's who they were looking for. Kureno was waiting in Akito's rooms waiting for him to come back from an appointment with Hatori."_

_"He was in the wrong place at the wrong time."_

_"Indeed. And as terrible as it sounds, it was probably a good thing he was. If one of the maids hadn't heard an altercation going on in the room and alerted someone, the attacker might've gone on to hurt many other people."_

_Yuki nodded slowly. A million questions hovered in his mind, but he could only verbalize one._

_"Why?" It was vague, but Ayame seemed to understand what he was implying._

_"Though it may not seem like it sometimes, the Sohma Family is very prominent in business affairs. We have connections that stretch the entire world- and with those connections come both good and bad relationships. Among a few others, one of the theories is that an assassin was sent by one of our business rivals to do away with the head of the Sohma family, and obtain a portion of our wealth. Terribly old-fashioned and rather dangerous, but it does happen sometimes."_

_"What are the other theories?" Ayame finally stopped stirring the water-most of the ice had melted by now- and looked up at the rat with piercing gold eyes._

_"There's nothing official, just… musings, I suppose."_

_"What's that supposed to mean?" From the way his brother was observing him, Yuki knew there was more to the story._

_"Well, there was a bit of evidence left at the crime scene that points in different directions, but nothing substantial enough to begin pointing fingers with." Ayame paused, and then continued, his eyes straying to the wall behind Yuki's head. "At least, not if you didn't know the circumstances."_

_"Where is this going, Ayame?" The teen was getting frustrated- his brother had always been somewhat of an enigma, but this was going too far._

_"What's wrong, Yuki, can't two brothers just talk?" The phrase came off as mocking, like Yuki was supposed to know exactly what Ayame was going on about._

_"Yes, two brothers can talk, but it's getting late, and I have school in the morning. So if you'll excuse me-" He stood up and began to leave, but his brother stopped him._

_"Yuki." The voice was cold and seemed accustomed to giving orders. It was a voice that had haunted Yuki's childhood, and popped up a nightmare every once in a while. His mother's voice. Akito's voice. The blood froze in the younger teen's veins. "Don't walk away when I'm talking to you."_

_Slowly, the rat turned around and stared at his elder brother. When Ayame saw Yuki's expression, he seemed to realize what had just happened- the person whom he had momentarily regressed to. His eyes widened in realization, and he put his head in his hands._

_"I'm sorry, Yuki, just… just, please, hear me out."_

_Hearing this, the rat sat back down, slipping his feet a little ways underneath the kotatsu, but otherwise making no comforting movement towards his brother. Yuki was still on edge._

_"What I came here to tell you is that I'm very worried about the safety of our family- and you know I'd do anything to keep you safe." Ayame gave him a pleading look, but Yuki's face remained distant- the familiar mask that had protected him throughout his life, until Tohru arrived._

_"Where they found Kureno, Shigure and I were asked to sniff around the area to see if we could find any clues that would be out of the sight of normal humans. We found a few things…"_

The conversation had put Yuki on the edge, confirming previous suspicions- where had their new friends come from? Why were they so easily accepted into the Sohma family? The rat hadn't fought it at the beginning- it was nice to have friends he wasn't related to. Nowadays even Tohru felt like a sister, (though he knew Kyo didn't share his sentiments).

But as time went on, it became apparent that things were not all as they appeared. There was just something… off about the three- something that Yuki couldn't place. At least, not at the beginning.

The events of the night before slowly became clearer.

Sakura was the problem. She had taken and knife and attacked them with speed and accuracy not found in a normal high school girl. She had attacked her own friends- but something had prevented her from killing them.

The rat remembered the looks on Naruto and Sasuke's faces when Sakura had flipped the table. They had been just as surprised as Tohru and the Sohmas- or at least appeared it.

Yuki sighed and resolved that as soon as his body stopped aching, he would talk to Shigure about what happened, and confront Naruto and Sasuke.

_'I knew that pink hair couldn't be natural.'_

XXXXX

_She flew through the trees with amazing speed. The tatters of her black dress rippled behind her like a shadow of the wind._

XXXXX

Sasuke picked up the last piece of glass off the floor of the living room and held it in his hand. It wasn't large, but the edges were jagged from being broken- just small enough to be overlooked, yet just sharp enough to be dangerous.

_'Like someone else I know._' He let his thoughts drift to the events of the previous night. It was a part of his mind that he hadn't dared to enter yet. He wouldn't go there right now, though. Not when he could hear Naruto ordering take-out for their late lunch.

Sasuke dumped the glass into the trash bag he was holding, tied the top of the bag into a knot and placed it on top of the other two bags in the corner in a neat little pile (the Uchiha was particularly adept at cleaning, thanks to years of living alone). He started to leave the living room, when the infamous blonde stuck his head out the doorframe.

"Hey Teme, the food will be here in half an hour- or it's free!"

"Hn."

The Uchiha slipped down the hallway into his bedroom, silently shutting the door. Then, in a rare moment of visible exhaustion, he allowed himself to collapse onto his bed face-first. Sasuke finally let his mind wander towards his pink-haired teammate, and the events of the night before.

He hadn't known. He didn't think Naruto had either. But given the circumstances, he shouldn't have been surprised that she would try something like that. He just hadn't anticipated that it would feel so… real.

_'That's probably how she felt when you left.'_

The thought made Sasuke abruptly sit up. When Sasuke had defected, he hadn't made a scene and tried to kill everyone, like Sakura had- well, not physically, anyway. But to the person who had always claimed to care about him, who had been the one to watch him actually leave the village that night, it might as well have been a kunai to the chest.

She'd begged him to stay- and he left her unconscious on a bench.

His fists clenched the dark blue bedspread as he recalled her actions the previous night. She'd slashed him across the chest with her kunai- not intending to do damage (if she'd wanted that, she could've easily brought the whole apartment down around them with her insane strength) but drawing enough blood to make the attack seem realistic. He'd caught her eye, and the amount of madness there (albeit mostly fake) was unnerving to see in someone who was like the rock of their team. But the real shock had been the unbreakable resolve she'd let show in those big green eyes. She wasn't unsure, and she had no regrets about what she was doing- it was what was necessary. He knew the feeling, because it was the same one he'd known when he defected.

Sasuke unclenched his fists and stared over at the mirror sitting against the wall near the door. In its reflection, he saw a young man who'd won countless battles, and overcome staggering odds to achieve greatness. He also saw a young man who'd made countless mistakes and stepped on whoever he needed to in order to obtain his desires. Last night, he'd seen both those young men in Sakura.

Unconsciously tracing the line she'd made across his chest with her kunai, Sasuke couldn't help but think how appropriate a slash across the heart seemed, now that she was gone.

XXXXX

"Hatsuharu!" Hatori called, walking towards the cow's room. A familiar head of black and white hair appeared in the doorway.

"Yes, Hatori?"

"Have you seen Momiji? He asked me for a quick checkup a few days ago to look at his cough, but between Kureno getting attacked and dealing with… certain people, it slipped my mind."

Hatsuharu cocked his head to one side, expression remaining unreadable. "By 'certain people', you mean Yuki and the cat's new friends, right?"

Though he didn't show it, Hatori was a little taken aback by how quickly the cow had figured it out. People really didn't give Haru enough credit- even though he was very quiet (when he wasn't Black), the boy really was quite observant .

"You don't have to tell me anything, but I'll tell you what I think," the teen went on, staying more or less expressionless, "We know they're not normal- probably not by a long shot- but why does that make them a threat to us?"

The doctor sighed. "We don't know what they are, and we're not taking any chances. Especially after Kureno was attacked-" Hatori cut himself off before he revealed too much about what they'd found at the scene of the crime. "We can't afford not to be careful- you know that."

Haru nodded. "Alright. I haven't seen him since yesterday, but I can help you find him if you need him right now." It took Hatori a moment to realize that he was talking about Momiji.

"No, he'll come around eventually, I'm sure." Hatori turned around to head back the way he'd come. "If you see him, send him to my office."

As the dragon turned the corner and left his line of vision, Haru decided to go in search of his blonde cousin anyway. It was odd that the rabbit hadn't come visit him at all today, and he missed the enthusiasm his visits brought. Even though they were so different, Momiji and Haru had been best friends since practically infancy- partially because they were the same age, and partially because they just balanced each other out. Where Haru was steady and often colorless, Momiji was bright and lively; where Momiji kept his emotions locked in a little box, Haru let his out in sporadic bursts of "black" madness.

The blonde was also Haru's most cherished confidante when he needed to vent, and he knew that he was Momiji's. The cow desperately needed advice concerning the tumultuous not-quite-relationship he was having with Rin, so he slid his door closed and set out to find the rabbit.

XXXXX

Momiji awoke and immediately emptied his stomach of all its contents. Coughing a little and shivering afterward, he looked at his surroundings; he appeared to be in a small, dark, concrete cell. The bars appeared to be made of a thin metal of some sort, and didn't appear very strong. The blonde crawled forward and placed his hand on one of them.

As his fingers enclosed around the bar, the rabbit saw a momentary flash of bright blue sparks before his body was thrown backwards and hit the concrete wall behind him with a painful crack. He fell to the ground and whimpered, faintly wondering if he'd broken a rib.

"Nasty, yeah?"

Momiji hadn't even heard the person approach the cell, but he vaguely recognized it as the voice of the blonde man who'd knocked him out on the street. Trying to look up, he saw the man grin smugly at him. "That's one of my jutsu, yeah- I stole it from some guy in Lightning Country, and it uses chakra to electrify anything you touch." The man licked his lips and grinned cruelly. "So keep tryin', to escape, yeah? It's entertaining."

Momiji just whimpered a little bit, trying to bite back tears as the scary blonde man laughed at him.

"W-what do you w-want from m-me?" He got out breathily, trying not to take in too much oxygen and irritate his ribs. The man stopped laughing and leered at him.

"We don't want you, yeah- we want what's inside of you." He put his hands on his hips. "We need your demon for power, yeah. But Danna says we have to wait until we have all of you to perform the extraction, so you'll wait here in the meantime, yeah."

Momiji let in a harsh breath as he realized what the man was talking about. Hot tears escaped his eyes as he curled into himself, trying to block out the pain in his chest and in the man's words. Sobs began to wrack his body as footsteps signaled the man leaving.

"Don't worry little Jinchuuriki," the man called behind him, "You won't be alone for long."

XXXXX

Hatsuharu, for the life of him, could not find Momiji _anywhere. _He'd searched the Sohma compound high and low, inner circles and outer circles (secretly, of course- couldn't have Akito getting mad over nothing) but there was no sign of the blonde. No one had seen him, either.

"Momiji, where are you?" Haru let out a breath, letting a little bit of frustration seep into his tone. He looked up at the darkened sky- it was definitely no longer summer. He'd only been searching for a few hours, but the October night had crept upon him too quickly, with the stars twinkling mischievously, like they knew something that he didn't. The cow frowned and sat down on a bench in one of the outermost circles, trying to come up with places where the rabbit could be.

"Hatsuharu-sama!" A woman- a maid, he thought- rushed up to him, breathing heavily. "Someone just told me that they saw Momiji-sama by the front gate!"

Grunting a quick "arigatou" to the woman, Haru rushed off towards the front gate, which was only a quick walk from where he sat.

There, standing underneath the two large streetlamps that lit the front of the Sohma compound, was a familiar blonde boy, staring out at the street away from Haru.

"Momiji!" The cow called, and the figure seemed to stiffen, then turn slowly toward him. He smiled at the approaching figure.

"Hatsuharu."

"Are you okay? Where have you been?" Haru stopped when he was close enough to his cousin to touch him. Normally Momiji would've jumped up to hug him, or touch him in some way- because that's just what Momiji _did_- but this time, the blonde just kept smiling at him.

"I had to see someone." The German teen's movements seemed unnaturally stiff and disjointed as he took Haru's hand and looked up into his eyes. "I have to show you something."

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Haru knew this was a bad idea. Something was wrong with his cousin- his eyes, which were normally brown and warm, seemed lifeless and unfocused. He wasn't acting like his normal, bubbly-self- hell, he wasn't even acting like the wreck of a child that he was in the rare moments when he let his walls come down. Nothing was normal about the rabbit in that moment, even by Sohma standards. But the strangest thing by far, was that instead of being soft and warm to the touch, his skin felt hard and cold.

Almost… wood-like.

"Where are we going?" He asked as the blonde dragged him out of the light, down the street and away from the safety of the Sohma compound.

"Don't worry, Hatsuharu." The blonde didn't turn around or slow, but his grip on the cow's hand tightened as he pulled him into the dark.

"You'll understand soon enough."

XXXXX

I'm just going to write this Author's note like I HAVEN'T been gone for an obscenely long time (but I apologize). This chapter was hard for me, and I'm still not completley sure I like the way that Sasuke's part came out. I know this doesn't clarify a lot (in fact, it probably just makes more questions), but it's the beginning of the set up for the more important, plot-aspects of the story.

This chapter is both darker and longer than most of the others- can you see how my writing style has changed in almost a year? Poor Momiji, it killed me to write about him, but it had to be done. Thanks for being patient with me- next chapter, we'll finally get to see some of the loose ends from the dinner all tied up, so look forward to that!


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